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Purchased  by  the  Hamill  Missionary  Fund. 


Division 


Section 


T.120S 
.HI  6 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/southamericansst00hale_0 


THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


Arch  of  Liberty — Caracas 


SOUTH  AMERICANS 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  SOUTH  AMERICAN  REPUBLICS 
THEIR  CHARACTERISTICS,  PROGRESS  AND 
TENDENCIES;  WITH  SPECIAL  REFER- 
ENCE TO  THEIR  COMMERCIAL 
RELATIONS  WITH  THE 
UNITED  STATES 


y/  By 

ALBERT  HALE,  A.  B.,  M.  D. 


Member  of  the  Geographical  Society  of  Rio  de  Janeiro 


NEW  YORK 

YOUNG  PEOPLE’S  MISSIONARY  MOVEMENT 
OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA 


Copyright  1907 
The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

October 


TO 

SECRETARY  ELIHU  ROOT 

One  great  American  statesman  of  recent  years  who 
has  understood  the  Latin  temperament,  and  whose 
visit  to  South  America  has  given  him  sympathy 
for  its  people,  and  aroused  in  them  sympathy  for 
us,  this  book  is  respectfully  dedicated. 


PREFACE 


The  book  has  been  written  with  a North  American  pen, 
but  I have  looked  through  South  American  eyes  while  writing 
it,  and  I think  that  twenty-five  years  of  intimate  association 
with  Latin  America,  and  extended  residence  there,  as  well 
as  travel  over  much  of  those  countries  and  other  parts  of  the 
civilized  world,  give  me  authority  to  speak.  If  I can  arouse 
sympathy  for  our  neighbors,  and  appreciation  for  the  senti- 
ment and  idealism  which  is  as  much  alive  in  them  as  it  is  in 
us,  I shall  be  content. 

Whatever  repetitions  may  be  noticed  are  intentional  and 
serve  to  call  attention  to  facts  or  conditions  needing  emphasis. 

I have  purposely  used  the  term  ‘ ‘ Y ankee  ” ; it  is  a dignified 
word  in  both  Spanish  and  Portuguese,  and  is  the  only  single 
word  exactly  carrying  the  idea  of  a citizen  of  the  English- 
speaking  republic  of  North  America.  It  should  not  be  offen- 
sive to  any  one  who  happens  to  have  been  bom  in  the  New 
England  States,  or  to  any  one  who  happens  to  have  been 
born  elsewhere. 

Particular  attention  has  been  given  to  the  East  Andean 
republics,  because  within  their  larger  areas  must  take  place  the 
great  industrial  advances  of  the  century,  but  the  argument 
of  the  book  applies  to  South  America  as  a whole. 

To  The  Reader  Magazine  I am  indebted  for  the  oppor- 
tunity of  making  some  of  the  studies  of  later  years,  and  to 
the  International  Bureau  of  American  Republics  in  Wash- 
ington I wish  to  express  my  thanks  for  their  uniform  courtesy, 
as  well  as  my  admiration  for  the  completeness  of  the  infor- 
mation obtainable  through  them. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I  Introduction  ...... 

II  A Traveler’s  Notes  ..... 

III  Geography  of  Argentina  .... 

IV  History  of  Argentina  .... 

V  The  Government  of  Argentina  . 

VI  The  People  and  Present  Conditions  of  Argentina 
VII  Geography  of  Uruguay  .... 

VIII  History  of  Uruguay  .... 

IX  The  Government  of  Uruguay 
X The  People  and  Present  Conditions  of  Uruguay 

XI  Geography  of  Brazil  .... 

XII  History  of  Brazil  ..... 

XIII  The  Government  of  Brazil 

XIV  The  People  and  Present  Conditions  of  Brazil 
XV  Geography  of  Venezuela  .... 

XVI  History  of  Venezuela  .... 

XVII  The  Government  of  Venezuela  . 

XVIII  The  People  and  Present  Conditions  of  Venezuela 
XIX  The  South  American  Situation  . 

XX  The  Monroe  Doctrine  .... 


PAGE 

I 

1 3 

87 

96 
1 1 2 
129 
*49 
1 S3 
16 1 
168 
181 
1 89 
204 
222 

243 

250 

263 

276 

288 

324 


LIST  OF  MAPS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Arch  of  Liberty — Caracas 

FACE  PAGE 

Frontispiece 

Mountain  Scene  and  Tunnel  on  Cordova  Railway 

16 

Traveling  in  South  America  . 

17 

“Oriental”  Beauues 

• 

1 7 

Fifteenth-of-November  Square 

• 

26 

Avenida  Mayo — Buenos  Aires 

• 

27 

Avenida  Central — Rio  de  Janeiro 

• 

27 

Children  at  Play — Montevideo 

• 

48 

Street  in  Montevideo 

• 

48 

Emblem  of  Peace — Andean  Pass 

• 

49 

A South  American  Belle 

• 

64 

In  the  Suburbs — Caracas 

• 

65 

Vargas  Hospital — Caracas 

• 

6S 

Military  College — Chile 

• 

78 

House  of  Congress — Santiago 

• 

79 

Map  of  Argentina  and  Uruguay 

86 

Wheat  Stack  in  Argentina 

90 

Traveling  in  South  America  . 

90 

Falls  of  Iguazu — Misiones  in  Argentina 

91 

LIST  OF  MAPS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS — Continued 


FACE 

PAGE 

Federal  Building — Buenos  Aires 

• 

II4 

Avenida  Alvear — Buenos  Aires 

115 

A Crap  Game — Argentine  Cowboys 

I 26 

Race-Course  at  Buenos  Aires  . 

127 

Street  Scene  in  Mendoza — Argentina 

I4O 

Public  Advertising — Argentina 

I4I 

Public  Advertising — Rio 

H1 

A Country  Village — Uruguay 

156 

A Country  Village — Brazil 

156 

Park  Scene — Montevideo 

157 

Branding  Cattle  in  Uruguay  . 

170 

Distant  View  of  Cerro — Montevideo 

170 

Plaza  Independencia — Montevideo 

171 

Theater  Solis — Montevideo  . 

176 

A Country  Railway  Station — Uruguay 

1 77 

Traveling  in  South  America  . 

177 

Map  of  South  America — Brazil 

1 80 

Italian  Coffee  Gatherers — Brazil 

1 84 

North  American  Engineering  in  Brazil 

184 

The  Country — Brazil  . 

185 

Statue  of  Emperor  Dom  Pedro  II — Rio 

• 

*94 

A Relic  of  Slave  Days — Brazil 

195 

Wealthy  Fazendero — Brazil  . 

• 

i95 

Y.  M.  C.  A.  Building — Rio 

• 

206 

LIST  OF  MAPS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS — Continued 


FACE 

PAGE 

The  Army — Brazil 

207 

“Garden  of  Light” — Sao  Paulo 

2l6 

Bronze  Gateway  to  Old  Palace — Rio 

217 

Portuguese  Library — Rio 

217 

Office  of  Jornal  do  Commercio — Rio 

226 

Protestant  Episcopal  Church — Rio  Grande 

227 

A Street  in  Porto  Alegre 

227 

Botafogo  Crescent — Rio  de  Janeiro  . 

N 

CKi 

00 

Sugar  Loaf  and  Harbor — Rio 

239 

Map  of  Venezuela 

242 

The  Old  in  Venezuela  . 

2 44 

The  New  in  Venezuela 

2 44 

Harbor  at  Puerto  Cabello 

245 

Military  College  Above  Railway  Station- 

— Caracas 

252 

Traveling  in  South  America  . 

252 

Bolivar  Square — Caracas 

253 

House  of  Congress — Caracas 

264 

Harbor  at  La  Guayra  . 

264 

American  Eagle  at  Puerto  Cabello  . 

265 

Market  Place — Caracas 

272 

A Tavern  in  Venezuela 

273 

Waiting  ..... 

273 

Statue  of  Bolivar — Valencia  . . 

• 

• 

• 

• 

284 

THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


CHAPTER  ONE 
INTRODUCTION 

The  settlement  of  North  America  was  begun 
with  the  love  of  liberty,  that  of  South  America 
with  the  search  for  gold.  This  is  the  characteristic 
difference  between  North  America  and  Latin 
America. 

Certain  critical  investigators  claim  that  the  ear- 
liest settlements  on  our  soil  were  actuated  by  noth- 
ing more  than  the  hope  of  commercial  success  and 
that  the  London  Company  in  Virginia  was  planted 
by  Smith  with  that  end  in  view.  They  claim  also 
that  the  Plymouth  accident  in  1620  did  not  imply 
a liberty  for  others  to  differ  radically  from  Puritan 
ideas,  and  that  the  Pilgrims  escaped  from  Euro- 
pean oppression  to  establish  a conscience  of  their 
own  rather  than  to  extend  freedom  to  those  who 
might  hold  contrary  opinions.  They  emphasize, 
too,  the  fact  that  neither  in  New  England  nor  in 
Virginia  did  a religious  zeal  blind  the  colonists  to 
the  material  advantages  to  be  derived  from  thrust- 
ing the  Indians  before  their  expanding  ambitions; 

1 


2 


THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


that  our  ancestral  politicians — North  and  South — 
were  not  always  statesmen ; that  the  colonists  knew 
the  trick  of  driving  a sharp  bargain;  that  there 
grew  up  in  the  colonies  an  aristocracy  whose  foun- 
dations were  built  upon  wealth  quite  as  much  as 
upon  manners,  morals  or  character. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  no  cynic  can  dispel  the  deep- 
rooted  conviction  within  us  that  the  gospel  of 
human  liberty  was  always  the  surviving  guide  to 
action.  However  much  the  North  American  col- 
onists erred  in  wisdom  or  sinned  in  conduct  toward 
their  neighbor,  this  gospel  of  human  freedom  was 
never  quite  forgotten.  It  is  part  of  our  inalienable 
inheritance  from  a Teutonic  ancestry  that  was 
nourished  on  it  before  Columbus  drew  his  first 
breath;  it  is  the  torch  that  has  never  been  wholly 
extinguished  since  the  days  of  Magna  Charta;  and 
it  is  the  beacon  which  we  must  pass  on  to  posterity 
if  we  hope  to  do  them  justice. 

No  softening  paraphrase  of  the  historian  can 
modify  the  fact  that  South  America  was  discovered 
and  conquered  by  an  unbridled  lust  for  gold. 
Whether  it  was  the  aggressions  of  the  English  on 
the  Spanish  Main,  or  of  the  Dutch  and  French 
near  the  Amazon,  or  of  the  Portuguese  in  Brazil, 
or  of  the  Spanish  on  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  in  Chile, 
Peru  or  Panama,  practically  the  only  motive  actu- 
ating the  colonists  there  was  the  desire  to  exploit  or 
to  despoil  the  territories  they  discovered,  and  with 
their  booty  to  hurry  back  to  Europe,  there  to  enroll 


RACIAL  CONTRASTS 


3 


themselves  among  the  rich  and  to  become  part  of 
an  idle  aristocracy.  The  tender-heartedness  of  the 
saintly  Las  Casas  only  throws  into  greater  contrast 
the  cruelty  of  his  companions;  the  educational 
crudities  of  the  Jesuits  in  South  Brazil,  Paraguay 
and  Argentina  merely  accentuate  the  harsh  meth- 
ods they  employed  to  obtain  a material  conquest 
over  the  aborigines;  and  the  documents  of  the  In- 
quisition show  to  what  length  the  Church,  when  it 
was  well  paid  for  it,  supported  the  ferocities  in 
Peru  and  Mexico.  Only  a few  isolated  examples 
of  Franciscans  in  Guatemala  and  California  hint 
at  what  results  a true  spiritual  religion  could  ac- 
complish, when  unfettered  by  a passion  which 
would  sacrifice  anything  to  reach  its  material  end. 
To  the  Latin  mind,  home  and  liberty  were  words 
of  an  unknown  tongue. 

And  yet  we  should  not  allow  ourselves  to  think 
that  we  are  altogether  virtuous,  nor  that  the  Latin 
races  are  altogether  vicious.  If  we  are  practical 
and  progressive,  if  we  recognize  the  gain  to  the 
human  race  by  modern  industry  and  commerce,  if 
we  have  the  skill  and  energy  and  knowledge  to 
make  two  blades  of  grass  to  grow  where  one  grew 
before,  they  have  a poetry,  a sprightliness  of 
imagination  which  we  lack;  if  we  are  solid  and 
rationally  hospitable,  they  are  cordial  and  sponta- 
neously hospitable,  and  they  have  preserved  a 
kindliness  in  their  social  intercourse  which  we 
might  well  emulate.  If  the  Anglo-Saxon  idea  of 


4 


THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


the  home  is  one  that  seems  to  come  closest  to  the 
ideal,  we  should  not  forget  that  certain  phases  of 
the  home  life  in  southern  Europe  and  South  Amer- 
ica are  very  sweet,  commendable  and  worthy  of 
admiration  and  emulation.  If  our  restlessness  of 
spirit  leads  us  to  the  assumption  of  new  duties  and 
to  an  expansion  of  interests  which  exhaust  our 
energies  and  foster  discontent  with  present  condi- 
tions, their  lack  of  it,  which  we  are  apt  to  call  lazi- 
ness or  indolence,  helps  to  preserve  the  poetry  of 
life,  and  often  tends  to  a peace  and  happiness  for 
which  we  sigh. 

If  on  the  one  hand  the  essence  of  our  life  is  that 
of  intellectual  and  personal  liberty,  and  if  the  prin- 
ciple of  our  government  is  “the  greatest  good  to 
the  greatest  number,”  it  must  be  confessed  that 
within  recent  years  we  have  allowed  our  ideals  to 
become  dimmed  by  a material  greed  which  has 
aroused  the  suspicion  of  all  the  world  and  made  us 
the  target  for  attacks  by  those  who  accuse  us  of 
falsity  of  word  and  disingenuousness  of  purpose. 
We  are  not  free  from  the  taint  of  Machiavellian- 
ism. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  history  of  South  Amer- 
ica shows  an  almost  constant  stain  of  bloodshed  for 
material  gain  alone,  we  must  not  forget  that  some 
of  the  most  heroic  efforts  ever  made  for  liberty  are 
written  large  across  that  history.  Bolivar,  Sucre, 
Sarmiento  and  Constant  are  names  not  to  be  ig- 
nored. Their  revolutions  are  not  always  ridicu- 


MORAL  CONTRASTS 


5 


lous;  they  are  sometimes  no  worse  than  our  election 
riots;  sometimes  they  are  due  to  the  selfish  ambi- 
tions of  spoils  politicians  who  would  oust  from 
offices  those  equally  selfish  politicians  who  happen 
to  have  secured  them;  and  sometimes  they  are  re- 
volts with  a sincere  purpose,  directed  against  a 
dictator  who  denied  the  people  a pure  government 
or  violated  his  constitutional  oath.  Good  is  often 
the  outcome. 

We  have  not  much  to  boast  of  in  the  way  of 
superiority,  either  morally  or  commercially.  Al- 
though the  average  North  American  business  man 
is  faithful  to  his  obligations,  so  also  is  the  average 
South  American,  as  the  credit  system  of  English 
and  German  exporters  bears  steady  witness.  In  the 
main  our  moral  standards  are  higher,  even  if  we 
do  not  live  up  to  them,  but  their  business  dealings 
are  honorable  and  fair.  In  the  domestic  virtues 
they  are  equal  to  us,  and  their  sacredness  of  family 
ties  is  unsurpassed.  The  women  of  the  upper 
classes  are  as  good  wrives  and  mothers,  according  to 
their  light,  as  women  in  other  parts  of  the  world; 
they  have  a horror  of  divorce,  partly  because  it  is 
anti-Catholic,  and  partly  because  it  is  contrary  to 
their  conception  of  the  marriage  sacrament. 
Among  the  lower  classes  illegitimacy  is  common; 
but  if  we  give  credence  to  the  disclosures  of  the 
working-people  in  our  large  industrial  centers,  the 
lack  of  illegitimate  children  does  not  by  any  means 
imply  purity.  There  is  a vital  distinction  between 


6 


THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


morality  and  virtue,  and  the  problem  with  us  is  the 
same  as  it  is  with  them,  except  that  the  Latin 
American  man  has  no  conception  of  chastity. 

On  one  point  our  inheritance  of  revolt  from  the 
Roman  Catholic  church  has  made  us  superior  to 
them.  We,  as  a people,  have  what  we  style  a New 
England  conscience,  or  what  with  more  dignity 
should  be  called  a moral  sense;  this  is  eminently 
self-sustaining  in  all  our  struggles  for  improvement 
and  reform.  A moral  sense  has  never  been  more 
than  feebly  developed  in  South  America,  and 
where  it  makes  itself  felt  it  has  become  a force  ar- 
tistic or  ethical  rather  than  religious  or  moral. 

They  are  superior  to  us  in  one  respect.  Un- 
doubtedly the  sense  of  beauty,  the  appreciation  of 
what  is  artistic,  is  far  more  highly  developed  with 
South  Americans  than  with  us.  It  is  hard  to  find 
in  their  countries  ugliness  in  extended  form.  Utili- 
tarianism, such  as  characterizes  our  activities,  is 
but  a flickering  factor  in  their  life;  admiration  for 
northern  ways  and  customs  is  spreading,  but  as  a 
race  or  nation  they  can  not  sacrifice  their  artistic 
tastes  to  such  an  extent  as  to  tolerate  ugliness,  even 
if  thereby  a material  gain  is  effected.  Growing 
out  of  this  is  another  condition  in  which  we  must 
acknowledge  our  inferiority.  I mean  the  admir- 
able condition  of  their  municipal  affairs.  Their 
cities,  as  instances  of  urban  life,  are  much  better 
than  ours.  The  Spaniards  and  Portuguese,  follow- 
ing their  innate  love  of  beauty,  always  selected  for 


ARTISTIC  CONTRASTS 


7 


settlements  sites  that  can  not  be  surpassed  for  their 
natural  attractions.  The  City  of  Mexico,  Panama, 
Caracas,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  even  Montevideo,  bear 
witness  to  this;  but  when  their  cities  became  more 
than  mere  temporary  stations  for  shipment  or  com- 
merce, when,  within  the  last  generation,  a growing 
population  demanded  a municipal  expansion,  this 
popular  love  for  harmony  and  beauty  was  never 
violated.  To-day  the  cities  of  South  America  are 
pleasing  and  inviting  to  the  eye.  The  contrast  be- 
tween them  and  our  own  cities,  both  as  to  location, 
use  of  natural  advantages  and  financial  organiza- 
tion, shows  against  us  very  unfavorably. 

Of  course  this  does  not  signify  that  the  purely 
house-building  and  housekeeping  conditions  have 
kept  pace  with  what  we  call  modern  conveniences; 
the  comforts  that  are  the  standard  for  our  modern 
daily  life,  though  they  may  be  found,  on  the  Eng- 
lish patterns,  in  Rio  or  Buenos  Aires,  are  not  usu- 
ally to  be  found  in  South  America;  the  habits 
which  we  consider  necessary  do  not  inhere  in  their 
people  and  can  no  more  be  forced  upon  them  than 
upon  the  East  Indian.  Their  ideas  of  comfort  are 
their  own,  but  as  a rule  they  pay  great  attention  to 
water  supply  and  street  sanitation,  even  in  remote 
towns. 

Their  two  great  points  of  inferiority  are  material 
development  and  public  education.  Where  they 
have  vast  unexplored  tracts  of  land,  fertile  and  fat, 
waiting  only  for  human  activity  to  produce  food 


8 


THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


for  millions,  they  have  neglected  their  duty  to  man- 
kind and  left  the  soil  untouched;  whereas  we,  with 
restless  energy  and  even  extravagance,  have  eagerly 
utilized  our  open  spaces,  and  have  so  yielded  to 
this  impulse  that  we  have  pushed  ourselves  into  the 
position  of  one  of  the  foremost  nations  of  the  earth, 
and  occupied,  within  little  more  than  a century,  an 
area  equal  to  that  of  Brazil.  The  development  of 
our  educational  system  is  the  result  of  our  intel- 
lectual and  moral  ambitions,  and  while  it  may  not 
be  perfect,  it  arouses  the  admiration  of  the  world 
and  is  undoubtedly  the  foundation  stone  of  our 
democracy.  Education  in  South  America  means 
almost  entirely  culture  for  the  upper,  the  aristo- 
cratic class,  and  superficially  imparted  elements 
for  the  lower  laboring  class. 

And  lastly,  where  we  often  come  together  is  on 
the  plane  of  political  corruption  comprised  in  the 
shameful  but  expressive  term  of  graft.  That  we  are 
better  than  our  ancestors  is  possibly  true,  but  that 
we  are  better  than  our  neighbors  will  be  a difficult 
task  to  prove.  Corruption  has  been  the  birth-mark 
of  Latin  politics  since  the  Christian  era;  it  is  nearly 
as  prevalent  to-day  as  it  was  when  Ferdinand  drove 
out  the  Moor,  but  it  is  not  worse  to-day  than  it  is 
with  us.  The  saving  factor  in  our  government  is 
our  natural  morality — the  simple  honesty  among 
the  people,  and  our  genuine,  deep-rooted,  but  some- 
times forgotten  respect  for  law.  Crimes  we  commit 
with  startling  frequency,  but  we  are  glad  when  the 


PROGRESS 


9 


law  is  enforced  and  we  hope  to  see  it  obeyed.  In 
South  America  there  is  the  redeeming  fact  that 
political  graft  satisfies  itself  by  a charge  of  two  or 
twenty  times  the  cost  of  the  work  done,  but  they 
usually  insist  that  the  work  be  done  honestly  and 
according  to  the  best  obtainable  specifications.  The 
codified  laws  are,  however,  far  above  the  heads  of 
the  common  people;  they  may  be  afraid  of  the  law, 
but  they  do  not  understand  it;  it  is  artificial  and 
often  transgresses  their  instincts.  And  moreover, 
they  have  not  what  I have  called  a moral  sense. 
Yet  any  accusations  of  corruption  which  may  be 
laid  at  their  doors  can,  with  equal  justice,  in  the 
light  of  our  recent  investigations,  be  laid  at  ours. 
A few  offices  in  our  own  national  government — 
president,  cabinet  members  and  supreme  court 
judges — are  surely  impeccable,  but  the  same  can 
not  be  said  of  every  country  in  South  America. 

Are  there,  then,  any  factors  which  are  tending 
to  modify  these  evident  differences?  I am  sure  that 
there  are.  The  adoption  of  steam  and  electricity 
is  generalizing  ideas  and  habits,  so  that  an  im- 
provement in  one  part  of  the  world  is  soon  appre- 
ciated, understood  and  adopted  in  another  part; 
we  accept  European  advances  in  physical  and  men- 
tal comforts  and  luxuries,  and  the  South  American, 
with  increasing  momentum,  is  accepting  those 
which  come  both  from  Europe  and  from  us.  Even 
the  lower  classes  are  no  longer  isolated.  But  be- 
yond that  is  the  newer  fact  that  they  are  absorbing 


10 


THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


some  of  the  same  blood  that  we  have,  and  that  on  to 
their  Latin  stock  is  engrafting  a vigorous  branch  of 
Northernism.  They  are  no  longer  purely  Iberian 
or  Lusitanian.  The  invasion  of  outsiders  is  not  go- 
ing on  so  rapidly  as  it  did  with  us,  but  it  is  un- 
deniably evident,  and  not  many  generations  will 
be  needed  before  a vigorous  mixed  race  will  push 
into  the  background  the  pure-blooded  Latin  who 
can  not  stand  the  pace.  This  migration  and  inter- 
mingling has  two  great  causes : the  desire  to  escape 
into  a republican  form  of  government,  and  the 
age-old  impulse  to  make  use  of  virgin  land. 

There  are  three  principles  of  government  polity: 
The  completely  republican,  such  as  we  represent 
and  such  as  is,  constitutionally  at  least,  represented 
by  the  independent  nations  of  the  western  hemi- 
sphere; the  limited  monarchy,  of  which  Great 
Britain  is  the  constitutional  type  and  Germany  the 
military  and  bureaucratic  type;  and  the  autocratic 
monarchy,  of  which  Russia  is  the  chief  example. 
These  will  be  examined  later,  but  it  must  be  re- 
marked at  the  outset  that  the  genius  of  each  is  at 
work  in  constructing  South  America. 

Of  equal  importance  is  that  phase  of  modern 
expansion  in  which  the  land  question  plays  an  all- 
powerful  part.  With  the  areas  of  China,  Japan 
and  India  overcrowded;  with  the  mutterings  of 
what  we  call  the  Eastern  peril,  it  is  easy  to  observe 
that,  besides  Africa,  uncertain  areas  of  Australia, 
and  the  newer  fields  of  western  Canada,  there  is  no 


LOCAL  DIFFERENCES 


it 


other  continent  capable  of  offering  virgin  soils  to 
the  exuberant  and  rapidly  growing  discontented 
dwellers  in  the  Old  World,  except  South  America. 

On  the  western  slope  of  the  Andes  are  Chile, 
Peru,  Bolivia,  Ecuador  and  Colombia,  which  may 
be  called  the  mountain  republics.  Their  chief  in- 
dustries will  be  those,  such  as  mining,  in  which  is 
demanded  a minimum  of  human  and  a maximum 
of  machine  labor.  They  have  unfilled  fertile  land, 
but  not  enough  to  draw  great  immigration,  and  it 
is  to  a noticeable  extent  already  occupied  by  native 
races  who  were  impressed  by  the  stamp  of  the 
Spanish  conqueror,  although  there  is  so  much  ab- 
original blood  that  they  can  by  no  means  be  com- 
pared to  an  Old  World  peasantry.  These  countries 
on  the  Pacific  Ocean  offer  no  attraction  for  the 
European  statesman  who  dreams  of  an  American 
sphere  of  influence;  they  are  isolated  by  the  lofty 
Andes,  by  thousands  of  miles  of  water;  but  they 
will  soon  be  made  easily  approachable  to  us  by  the 
completion  of  the  Panama  Canal,  so  that  they  will 
develop  along  American  lines  with  eagerness,  if 
we  treat  them  fairly. 

These  facts  we  must  recognize.  We  must  shake 
off  the  sentimentalism  which  has  colored  our  deal- 
ings with  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  learn,  by  an 
impartial  study  of  the  question,  in  which  direction 
our  best  interests  lie.  If  we  harken  to  one  voice, 
we  must  be  content  to  restrict  our  energies  to  our 
own  country  and  admit  no  outside  interests  except 


12 


THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


those  which  are  necessary  to  protect  our  commerce 
and  our  countrymen  in  foreign  lands.  But  if  we 
listen  to  another  voice,  we  can  not  longer  be  deaf 
to  what  is  said  to  be  our  duty,  and  to  what  the 
whisperings  of  coming  events  interpret  to  be  our 
manifest  destiny — to  become  the  suzerain  of  the 
western  continent.  But  there  is  still  a middle  course 
which,  in  the  judgment  of  many,  South  Americans 
among  others,  is  proper  and  wisest  to  adopt. 
We  wish  to  lead  a victorious  army  of  republics, 
but  we  have  not  always  selected  the  heartiest  way 
of  leading.  At  times  we  have  offered  true  aid  and 
support,  but  quite  as  often  we  have  offered  patron- 
age instead  of  sympathy;  we  have  scolded  when  we 
might  have  advised,  and  of  late  years  we  have 
shown  an  ignorance  of  our  neighbors  which  is 
worse  than  indifference. 

For  three  quarters  of  a century  we  have  stood  be- 
tween the  South  American  republics  and  the  un- 
scrupulous or  even  justifiable  aggression  of  Eu- 
rope, but  we  can  not  much  longer  occupy  that 
position.  We  must  make  our  influence  felt  in  a 
clearer  way  than  that  which  has  until  now  been 
satisfactory  to  them  and  to  us ; we  must  give  a dis- 
tinct form  to  the  motive  which  inspires  us.  To  doi 
this  we  must  learn  more  about  our  neighbors,  their 
ambitions  and  their  prospects,  and  above  all  we 
must  give  clear  and  vital  significance  to  the  Mon- 
roe Doctrine. 


CHAPTER  TWO 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 

Passports  are  almost  never  required  in  Brazil, 
Uruguay  or  Argentina,  but  it  is  advisable  to  carry 
one  in  the  pocket  for  identification,  or  in  case  of 
confusion. 

It  must  be  remembered,  in  crossing  the  Line, 
that  our  winter  is  summer  in  Brazil  and  Argen- 
tina, and  our  summer  their  winter.  Except  in  the 
extreme  south  of  Argentina,  however,  there  is  no 
fear  of  snow  or  frost,  nor,  excepting  a few  coast 
towns  in  Brazil,  of  excessive  heat,  so  that  over  the 
ordinary  routes  of  travel  the  summer  will  com- 
pare with  our  northern  June,  and  the  winter  with 
our  clear  October.  Within  the  tropics — that  is,  in 
Brazil  as  far  south  as  Sao  Paulo  and  even  farther 
south  along  the  coast — the  lightest  clothing  may 
be  worn,  and  should  be  provided.  If  light  woolen 
or  flannel  is  endurable,  such  underwear  may  be 
worn,  but  my  own  experience  confirms  that  of  sea- 
soned residents  in  the  tropics,  that  woolen  is  not 
always  healthful.  The  best  rule  to  follow  is  that 
of  personal  comfort;  wear  what  seems  to  promote 
physical  well-being,  regardless  of  theories.  On  the 

i3 


14 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


steamer,  as  it  nears  the  equator,  white  outer  gar- 
ments are  the  fashion,  and  may  be  worn  so  long  as 
the  sun  shines;  after  sunset  and  for  dinner,  black 
clothes  are  put  on  by  cabin  passengers.  A hint  may 
be  given  about  diet;  the  temptation  within  the 
tropics  is  to  eat  too  much,  especially  of  both  fruit 
and  meat.  The  hotel  proprietor,  who  has  probably 
had  European  training  and  has  catered  particu- 
larly to  English  and  German  travelers,  assumes 
that  everybody  will  require  heavy  meats  at  least 
twice  a day,  and  therefore  breakfast  (from  eleven 
to  twelve)  and  dinner  will  each  have  two  or  more 
courses  of  meat.  Not  to  be  led  astray  by  the  abun- 
dance provided,  nor  by  the  assumption  that  because 
it  is  provided  is  therefore  a proof  that  it  is  neces- 
sary, but  to  partake  sparingly,  will  save  the 
stranger  many  a digestive  misadventure.  Tropical 
fruits  are  so  numerous  and  by  their  novelty  so  al- 
luring, that  each  must  discover  for  himself  how 
much  can  be  eaten  without  disaster. 

To  go  up  the  Amazon,  the  Booth  line  of  steam- 
ers from  New  York,  carrying  the  mails,  may  be 
taken,  but  to  reach  other  parts  of  Brazil,  and  Ar- 
gentina or  Uruguay,  there  are  two  routes.  One, 
most  direct,  is  by  an  English  or  German  line  of 
steamers  with  semi-monthly  sailings,  which  makes 
the  voyage  to  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  sixteen  days.  All 
the  boats  are  comfortable  and  safe,  but  in  the 
transatlantic  sense  of  the  word  they  are  only  cargo 
vessels,  offering  no  luxuries  and  but  the  merest 


TO  BUENOS  AIRES 


i5 


comforts  for  such  a long  voyage.  The  other  route, 
indirect  but  pleasanter,  is  to  go  first  to  Europe, 
where,  at  Southampton,  there  is  a choice  of  fre- 
quent English,  French  or  German  steamers,  of 
most  modern,  commodious  and  splendid  equip- 
ment, with  better  cabin  accommodations  and  more 
cosmopolitan  companions.  On  the  New  York  serv- 
ice passengers  for  Buenos  Aires  tranship  at  Rio 
(sometimes  at  Santos),  while  the  steamers  from 
Europe,  touching  at  Pernambuco,  Bahia,  Rio  de 
Janeiro  and  Santos,  continue  the  passage  to  Monte- 
video and  Buenos  Aires,  so  that  the  passenger  has 
no  change  till  he  arrives  at  the  end  of  his  sea  jour- 
ney. On  all  trips  into  Latin  America  the  passenger 
must  declare,  when  he  purchases  his  ticket,  how 
many  pieces  of  baggage  are  carried;  the  number 
is  entered  in  the  invoice,  and  the  same  number  of 
pieces  must  be  produced  when  disembarking.  It 
is  advisable  therefore  not  to  disarrange  the  original 
scheme  of  impedimenta,  in  order  to  escape  petty 
annoyances  in  a foreign  custom-house. 

In  going  to  South  America  to  reside  perma- 
nently, it  is  better  to  take  no  furniture  or  household 
goods,  in  fact  nothing  except  personal  clothing,  as 
duties  and  charges  for  conveyance  are  exorbitant. 

Excepting  at  Santos  and  Buenos  Aires,  where 
the  steamer  ties  to  a dock,  passengers  and  baggage 
are  landed  by  boats  and  lighters  which  come  out  to 
the  steamer  lying  at  anchor  some  distance  away 
from  shore.  The  ticket  does  not  obligate  the  com- 


16  fA  TRAVELER’S  NOTES 

pany  to  place  the  passenger  on  land ; he  must  there- 
fore pay  extra  for  this  transportation.  What  would 
happen  if  the  passenger  demanded  to  be  placed  on 
shore  and  refused  to  go  into  his  own  pocket  for  this 
additional  cost,  I do  not  know;  I never  met  one 
who  had  the  nerve  to  try.  The  company  surely 
would  not  carry  him  beyond  his  destination,  but 
they  might  carry  him  gratis  on  a lighter. 

BRAZIL 

No  matter  which  route  is  selected,  almost  all 
steamers  make  the  first  stop  at  Recife.  This  is  the 
correct  name  for  what  is  generally  called  the  city 
of  Pernambuco,  but  Pernambuco  is  really  the 
name  of  the  Brazilian  state,  and  its  use  should  be 
restricted  to  this  application.  Recife  is  so  called 
because  of  the  narrow  reef  ( recife  in  Portuguese 
means  reef)  that  lines  this  coast  for  hundreds  of 
miles.  Steamers,  unless  they  draw  less  than  twenty- 
three  feet  of  water  and  are  to  be  detained  here  for 
longer  than  a few  hours,  do  not  go  within  the  reef, 
but  lie  at  anchor  about  a mile  outside  the  natural 
harbor  behind  it,  in  deep  water.  Recife  is  a hot, 
sugary  seaport,  which,  from  the  anchorage,  pre- 
sents a fresh  and  attractive  picture,  inviting  to  the 
traveler  who  has  been  two  weeks  at  sea  out  of  sight 
of  land.  It  may  seem  hazardous  to  the  inexperi- 
enced to  enter  the  boat  at  the  steamer’s  side,  be- 
cause there  is  always  a heavy  swell  running,  in 


Mountain  Scene  and  Tunnel  on  Cordova  Railway 


Traveling  in  South  America 


“Oriental"  Beauties 


RECIFE 


1 7 


which  the  boats  bob  up  and  down  in  a very  insecure 
manner,  even  though  they  are  large  and  have  from 
six  to  ten  oars.  There  is  really  no  danger,  nor  did 
I hear  of  any  accident. 

For  one  person  the  cost  is  excessive,  but  if  eight 
or  ten  make  up  a party  and  bargain — and  it  is 
necessary  to  bargain  for  everything  in  Brazil — the 
going  and  coming  passage  may  be  made  at  five 
milreis  a person.  Be  sure  to  contract  for  the  return, 
else  the  rowers  will  hold  passengers  on  shore  until 
additional  fare  is  paid.  Landing  is  easy,  for  once 
around  the  shelter  of  the  lighthouse  at  the  end  of 
the  reef,  you  are  in  still  water,  and  can  step  from 
the  boat  on  to  a stone  pier  at  the  foot  of  the  cus- 
tom-house. There  is  not  much  to  do  or  to  see  in 
the  town  itself,  but  a few  hours  can  be  pleasantly 
spent  wandering  around  the  business  part  of  the 
town.  The  influences  of  the  earliest  Dutch  settlers 
may  still  be  detected  in  the  buildings,  some  of 
which  are  high  and  narrow,  with  peaked  gables 
and  dormer  windows.  The  town  is  divided  into 
three  portions  separated  by  lagoons,  across  which 
are  substantial  bridges.  If  time  permits,  a street- 
car ride  may  be  taken  to  the  inner  town,  along  the 
shore  to  a bathing  resort,  and  up  the  hill  to  the 
residence  quarter.  Recife  has  a fine  church  and 
several  public  buildings  worth  seeing.  The  popu- 
lation is  given  at  nearly  200,000,  making  it  the 
fourth  in  size  in  Brazil. 

In  any  case,  it  is  at  Pernambuco  that  the  stranger 


i8 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


first  becomes  acquainted  by  sight,  touch  and  smell 
with  the  dirty  Brazilian  paper  money.  It  is  filthy, 
indescribable,  and  often  illegible;  the  wonder  is 
that  a first-rate  government  can  issue  such  a fifth- 
rate  currency.  Caution  must  be  observed  in  taking 
it,  because  there  is  plenty  of  counterfeit  paper  and 
no  scruple  about  passing  it.  Gold  coin  does  not 
circulate,  silver  is  rarely  seen,  paper,  nickel  and 
copper  fractions  of  the  milreis  (400,  300,  200,  100 
reis)  are  the  only  media.  The  exchange  varies 
from  day  to  day  and  is  posted  on  a bulletin  in  many 
coffee-houses,  restaurants  and  public  buildings. 

At  par  a milreis  equals  twenty-seven  English 
pence  or  fifty-two  United  States  cents,  and  the  rate 
is  always  given  in  pence.  For  example,  exchange 
at  seventeen  means  that  the  ruling  rate  is  seven- 
teen pence  (34  cents),  and  the  traveler  can  reckon 
his  own  money  at  that  ratio.  It  is  well  to  have  some 
English  gold  sovereigns,  as  a higher  commission  is 
charged  on  American  gold  and  bank-notes. 

Hotel  accommodations  in  Recife  are  good,  if 
one  understands  the  character  and  custom  of  tropic 
seaport  hotels;  if  not,  they  will  appear  meager, 
primitive  and  dirty.  Luxuries  such  as  we  pay  for 
and  demand  in  the  hotels  of  our  larger  cities,  are 
not  obtainable,  but  neither  are  they  essential  to 
Brazilian  health  or  happiness.  The  rooms  will  be 
dark,  the  beds  small,  and  the  washing  facilities,  ex- 
cept for  a bowl  and  pitcher,  somewhere  outside 
along  the  corridor;  but  a bath  can  always  be  taken, 


RECIFE 


i9 


and  there  being  no  smoke  or  circulating  dirt,  a 
bath  is  altogether  a matter  of  relief  from  heat  or 
to  refresh  the  body.  Nobody  thinks  of  staying  in  a 
room  when  not  in  bed.  The  servants  will  probably 
be  men,  a chambermaid  being  a rara  avis  where 
French  or  English  habit  has  not  been  substituted 
for  native  habit.  Coffee  is  served  in  the  room  early 
in  the  morning,  with  a bit  of  bread,  any  hour  the 
guest  may  select;  breakfast  at  about  eleven  and 
dinner  at  six  are  the  regular  meals. 

Recife  is  the  head  of  a railway  system  radiating 
into  the  country  tributary  to  this  port.  It  is  nearly 
possible  to  reach  Bahia  by  overland  railway,  but 
nobody  thinks  of  this  route,  because  the  sea  trip  is 
so  much  pleasanter  and  more  comfortable.  In- 
formation about  the  service  on  the  railway,  as  well 
as  of  steamer  communication  to  local  points  along 
the  coast,  must  be  obtained  after  the  traveler  has 
landed ; no  guide-book  can  be  trusted,  since  changes 
are  so  frequent  and  informal.  It  will  take  at  least 
a day  to  find  out  where  you  want  to  go,  and  another 
to  find  out  how  to  get  there,  and  any  effort  in  these 
notes  to  circumvent  local  custom  would  be  mislead- 
ing. The  only  way  is  to  have  patience  and  ask  the 
hotel  proprietor,  who  will  direct  the  guest  to  the 
office  of  the  railway  or  steamship  company,  where 
the  latest  news  will  be  cheerfully  imparted — as  a 
matter  of  probability,  however,  not  as  a matter  of 
definite  fact. 

The  Great  Western  Railway  of  Brazil,  control- 


20 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


ling  nearly  one  thousand  miles  of  line,  is  an  Eng- 
lish company  with  headquarters  in  London.  In 
Recife  and  in  the  state  of  Pernambuco  the  Amer- 
ican first  comes  in  contact  with  European  interests, 
and  learns  how  energetic  and  persistent  has  been 
the  desire,  both  of  natives  and  foreigners,  to  open 
the  country  to  commerce  and  production.  Of 
course,  the  sugar,  cotton  and  tobacco  of  the  state 
go  wherever  there  is  a demand,  and  the  cultivation 
is  in  the  hands  of  natives;  but  the  business  is  fos- 
tered by  Europeans,  and  the  country  would  soon 
sink  into  a wilderness  did  not  England  contribute 
money  and  brains  to  the  upbuilding  of  such  terri- 
tory. The  Yankee  begins  to  see  that  not  all  the  ex- 
pansion of  later  years  can  be  credited  to  him,  and 
that  if  he  does  not  soon  take  a hand,  he  will  find 
that  there  remain  commercially  but  few  worlds  to 
conquer.  The  farther  he  passes  down  the  coast,  the 
fewer  signs  of  our  activities  does  he  find,  till  in 
Buenos  Aires  he  becomes  smothered  under  the 
British  flag. 

Steamers  try  to  arrive  at  Recife  in  the  morning 
and  to  leave  in  the  afternoon  in  order  to  bring  them 
to  Bahia,  387  miles  to  the  south  and  west,  early  on 
the  second  morning.  Here  the  Bay  of  All  Saints 
(Bahia  do  Todos  os  Santos),  a beautiful  sheet  of 
water,  is  entered  before  the  city  of  Sao  Salvador 
is  reached, — (200,000  inhabitants,  the  third  largest 
in  Brazil).  The  harbor  is  more  protected  than  that 
of  Recife  and  the  city  appears  more  modern.  Its 


BAHIA 


21 


position  is  more  commanding  and  is  less  exposed 
to  the  open  sea.  The  harbor  is  sheltered,  but 
steamers  can  not  yet  approach  to  the  docks.  At 
present  vessels  lie  at  anchor  in  the  bay  about  a mile 
from  shore  in  still  water,  so  that  the  conveyance  of 
the  passenger  from  steamer  to  shore  is  easy  and 
agreeable.  Sail-boats  and  rowboats,  large  and 
small,  meet  the  steamer,  and  parties  of  two  or  more 
can  arrange  to  land,  the  cost  averaging  three  mil- 
reis  for  the  round  trip  if  a bargain  is  struck  be- 
forehand, and  the  hour  of  return  be  definitely  fixed. 

Sao  Salvador  is  the  Brazilian  name  of  the  city, 
and  Bahia  should  be  used  only  to  designate  the 
state  in  which  it  lies  and  of  which  it  is  the  capital. 
There  are  two  distinct  towns,  the  old  and  low  town 
close  to  the  water  on  a narrow,  flat  and  sun-baked 
strip  along  the  docks,  and  the  high  town  on  the 
bluffs,  150  feet  or  so  above  the  other.  The  low 
town  is  used  only  in  the  daytime  and  is  the  center 
of  the  shipping  and  large  commercial  interests, 
active  by  day  but  dark  and  silent  at  night.  To 
reach  the  city  itself,  the  traveler  may  take  a trolley 
or  walk  a few  short  squares  to  the  elevator  (lift) 
ascending  perpendicularly,  or  to  the  cable-car  as- 
cending on  an  incline.  The  cost  of  either  journey 
is  100  reis.  Coming  down  one  is  well  repaid  for  the 
walk,  a wide  and  paved  roadway  offering  a pleas- 
ant decline  from  which  attractive  views  of  the  bay 
and  both  cities  may  be  had.  Once  in  the  upper  city 
the  sights  are  novel  and  frequent  enough  to  occupy 


22 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


a day  and  more.  Numerous  street-car  lines  reach 
out  into  the  suburbs  in  the  interior  and  along  the 
water  to  the  open  Atlantic  or  resorts  on  the  bay. 
One  charming  feature  of  the  city  is  the  luxuriant 
growth  of  flowers  in  every  public  plaza  and  pri- 
vate patio.  There  are  many  fine  residences,  some 
dating  back  to  colonial  and  imperial  times,  others 
showing  less  Dutch  and  more  cosmopolitan  archi- 
tecture. Sao  Salvador  is  said  to  have  more  negroes 
than  any  other  city  in  Brazil;  I don’t  know  who  is 
responsible  for  that  statement,  but  he  must  have 
had  a difficult  task  in  counting,  and  even  then  it 
must  be  a keen  eye  that  could  find  more  here  than 
in  Pernambuco. 

Of  this  city  the  anecdote  is  told  of  the  American 
consul  appointed  by  some  president  who  knew 
more  about  politics  than  he  did  about  the  require- 
ments of  our  consular  service.  The  appointee  de- 
layed so  long  in  his  departure  that  news  reached 
Bahia  before  his  arrival  that  he  was  a negro!  The 
consternation  among  the  few  resident  foreign 
whites  was  manifest  and  general,  but  they  held  a 
mass  meeting  and  sent  a petition  to  our  state  de- 
partment, begging  the  administration  to  change 
him  to  some  other  place.  They  said  that  when  the 
diplomatic  representatives  met,  they  took  advan- 
tage of  the  occasion  to  parade  in  a body  so  as  to 
impress  on  the  native  negro  population  the  power 
and  influence  of  foreign  nations,  but  that  if  a negro 
should  appear  among  them  as  the  representative 


RIO  DE  JANEIRO 


23 


of  the  United  States  of  North  America,  the  negroes 
would  go  wild  with  delight  in  the  belief  that  that 
far-away  country  was  ruled  by  blacks,  and  that 
therefore  their  millennium  had  come.  Fortunately 
this  petition  had  effect,  and  another  consul,  white, 
was  sent. 

Bahia  is  an  imposing  city  and  appears  metropol- 
itan with  its  numerous  churches  and  its  public 
buildings.  Clubs,  theaters  and  other  places  of 
amusements,  with  bathing,  fishing  and  boating,  add 
a liveliness  which  Recife  lacks,  although  business 
is  said  to  be  very  poor  nowadays.  The  hotels  are 
characteristic  of  the  tropics,  but  perhaps  less  prim- 
itive than  in  many  ports  of  Brazil. 

There  is  one  railway  running  out  of  Sao  Sal- 
vador into  the  interior,  and  several  coast-wise 
steamers  ply  up  and  down  to  the  local  ports.  In- 
formation about  these  can  be  obtained  only  on  the 
spot.  The  trains  run  quite  regularly,  but  advance 
information  concerning  steamers  is  untrustworthy. 

Rio  de  Janeiro  is  749  miles  south  by  west  from 
Bahia  and  is  reached  after  about  forty-eight  hours’ 
sail.  Along  the  coast  the  voyage  is  at  times  as  full 
of  charm  as  a Mediterranean  trip,  the  weather  be- 
ing seldom  unpleasant  or  rough,  though  during  the 
wet  season  tropic  rains  may  drive  passengers  off 
the  decks  for  a while.  Near  Rio  the  mountains 
come  close  to  the  sea,  and  at  Cape  Frio  there  seems 
to  be  no  shore  at  all.  This  “cold  cape”  has  been  so 
called  from  earliest  times,  and  well  bears  out  its 


24 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


name;  over  an  area  of  several  miles  a chilly  wind 
blows  from  the  land,  and  the  temperature  of  the  air 
sinks  so  many  degrees  that  one  feels  sure  that  an 
iceberg  must  be  in  the  immediate  neighborhood. 
Several  explanations  have  been  given  for  this 
phenomenon,  but  all  are  guesses  of  the  good-na- 
tured captain  or  of  the  credulous  steward.  The 
coast  is  sparsely  inhabited,  but  there  is  a lighthouse 
under  the  rock.  Adding  to  the  mystery  of  this  cold 
air  is  the  appearance  of  the  banks  of  sand  close  to 
the  water  or  spread  out  higher  up  on  the  mountain. 
This  sand  looks  so  much  like  snow  that  the  local 
joke  is  that  the  passenger  has  seen  snow  in  the 
tropics. 

Fifty  miles  beyond  Cabo  Frio,  an  easy  run  of 
four  hours,  lies  the  harbor  of  Rio.  On  the  right, 
the  rocks  grow  more  forbidding  and  barren,  an 
open  space  is  detected  in  the  coast-line,  and  sud- 
denly the  “Sugar  Loaf”  appears.  As  the  steamer 
turns  her  bow  to  the  north  and  passes  this  immense 
granite  cone,  jutting  nearly  three  thousand  feet  to- 
ward the  sky  at  the  entrance  of  one  of  the  most 
commodious  harbors  of  the  world,  the  imagination 
can  but  faintly  grasp  the  beauty  crowded  into  thi9 
bay  of  Rio  de  Janeiro.  The  city  lies  on  the  west 
shore,  protected  by  the  huge  green  masses  ranged 
like  a wall  behind  it;  on  the  east,  to  the  right,  the 
rocks  or  sands  are  lower,  although  by  no  means  flat. 
Extending  beyond,  as  far  as  vision  will  carry,  is 
this  land-locked  sheet  of  water,  with  here  and  there 


LANDING  AT  RIO 


25 


an  island,  irregularly  fitted  to  the  jutting  capes. 
On  every  side  are  hills,  covered  with  green  as  with 
a velvet  mantle.  Every  poet  who  has  ever  been  to 
Rio  writes  its  praises  during  the  first  hours  of  in- 
toxication, and  every  traveler  wishes  to  be  a poet 
in  order  to  be  able  to  express  his  admiration,  his 
sense  of  pleasure  and  wonder;  but — alas,  I am  not 
a poet,  and  must  leave  the  description  to  a better 
pen  than  mine. 

The  steamer  is  first  stopped  at  quarantine  not  far 
from  the  Sugar  Loaf.  There  is  a wait  for  an  hour 
or  more,  the  polite  but  leisurely  inspection  of  the 
ship’s  health  being  quite  forgotten  in  the  pano- 
rama of  nature  and  the  activities  of  the  harbor.  As 
yet  the  dock-works  now  constructing  are  not  avail- 
able for  steamers,  so  that  they  anchor  some  miles 
from  quarantine,  and  about  a mile  off  shore  oppo- 
site the  city.  Passengers  must  bargain  with  one  of 
the  boatmen  for  transport  to  the  shore,  a fee  of 
five  milreis  a person  being  considered  moderate, 
and  more  than  that  not  extortionate;  of  course,  if 
a large  party  hires  a large  boat,  the  cost  per  person 
may  be  reduced.  Hand  baggage,  which  has  al- 
ready been  examined  by  the  customs  officials  sent 
on  board  for  the  purpose,  may  be  transported  by 
the  owner  and  should  be  so  declared  when  the  ex- 
amination is  made,  but  larger  pieces  of  baggage, 
such  as  trunks,  boxes  and  cases,  can  not  go  on  the 
rowboats.  They  are  not  submitted  to  inspection  on 
board,  and  must  therefore  wait  till  the  steamer’s 


26 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


tender  carries  them  to  the  alfandega  (custom- 
house) on  shore. 

My  own  experience  when  I landed  for  the  first 
time  in  Rio  was  an  unusual  one.  It  had  rained  so 
fiercely  during  the  afternoon  that  the  steamer  had 
been  delayed,  and  it  was  nightfall  before  we  at 
last  anchored  and  the  passengers  were  permitted 
to  start  for  shore.  My  companion  and  I had  bar- 
gained with  one  of  the  innumerable  boatmen  who 
swarmed  about  the  steamer,  but  by  the  time  we 
were  ready  it  was  quite  dark,  and  the  rain  had  be- 
gun again.  When  we  had  descended  into  his  boat, 
we  found  to  our  disgust  that  he  got  the  better  of 
us,  in  spite  of  the  earlier  negotiations,  for,  occupy- 
ing most  of  the  space,  were  half  a dozen  Italian 
immigrants  whom  he  had  picked  up  from  another 
steamer  lying  close  by  us.  It  was  too  late  to  change 
our  plans,  for  the  chances  were  that  if  we  refused 
to  go,  we  could  not  find  another  conveyance  before 
morning.  We  yielded,  therefore,  and  prepared  to 
make  the  best  of  the  bad  bargain.  Slowly  he  pulled 
his  weighted  boat  to  shore,  so  slowly  that  we  were 
thoroughly  drenched  by  the  time  we  climbed  up 
the  steps  leading  to  the  Fifteenth-of-November 
Square.  Here  began  a fresh  difficulty;  our  lug- 
gage was  in  his  care  and  he  proceeded  to  arrange 
for  its  transport  to  the  hotel.  This  was  not  in  the 
contract,  for  we  had  intended  to  take  a tilbury  or 
two,  and  to  make  our  own  price.  He  insisted  that 
we  had  employed  him  for  the  entire  trip;  we  de- 


Fifteenth-of-November  Square 


Avenida  Mayo — Buenos  Aires 


Avenida  Central — Rio  de  Janeiro 


AN  INCIDENT 


27 


manded  our  bags  and  offered  him  only  the  money 
to  pay  for  the  fare  to  the  landing  stage.  Our  em- 
barrassment grew  with  each  minute,  because  no 
one  seemed  to  understand  the  others.  My  friend 
spoke  a satisfactory  Portuguese,  I used  abundant 
Spanish,  but  the  boatman  was  a rather  recently 
arrived  Italian.  Rain  and  bad  language  was 
about  all  we  could  detect,  when  of  a sudden  the 
boatman  threw  himself  upon  our  cicerone  from  the 
hotel,  who  had  come  to  meet  us,  and  the  two  of 
them  began  gyrations  which,  in  any  Anglo-Saxon 
country,  would  have  been  called  a rough-and-tum- 
ble fight.  I was  just  on  the  point  of  mixing  in  the 
argument  with  a stick,  when,  wonderful  to  relate 
in  Rio,  a policeman  appeared  and  restored  order. 
By  this  time  the  immigrants  were  escaping  without 
paying  their  fare,  so  our  boatman  decided  that 
he  had  better  secure  them  even  at  the  sacrifice  of 
us.  He  therefore  retired  to  his  more  legitimate 
prey,  with  more  Italian  curses. 

However,  I do  not  judge  of  Rio  or  of  the  Bra- 
zilians by  this  adventure.  I kept  my  temper  and 
had  a good  laugh  about  it  afterward.  Supposing, 
I said  to  myself,  a South  American  should  judge 
of  the  United  States  by  some  similar  incident  on 
landing  in  New  York  for  the  first  time?  Should 
we  think  it  fair  or  reasonable  of  him  to  draw  con- 
clusions from  an  incident  of  the  first  day’s  arrival 
in  New  York  City?  It  was  easy  to  preserve  an  un- 
prejudiced mind,  because  always  thereafter  I man- 


28 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


aged  to  go  about  Rio  without  trouble,  and  with  no 
hindrance  except  that  which  my  limited  store  of 
Portuguese  brought  upon  myself.  I soon  learned 
one  reason  why  such  irregularities  could  happen. 
The  supply  of  day  laborers  in  Rio,  at  that  time, 
was  far  short  of  the  demand,  and  wages  on  the 
new  Avenida,  the  new  harbor  improvements  and 
elsewhere,  were  so  much  higher  than  those  paid  to 
policemen,  boatmen  and  such,  that  it  was  a diffi- 
cult matter  to  keep  the  ranks  up  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  growing  city. 

When  the  landing  is  safely  accomplished,  one’s 
next  anxiety  is  to  reach  the  hotel,  and  to  finish  with 
the  custom-house,  called  in  Portuguese  alfandega. 
Here  is  learned,  if  experience  has  not  already 
taught  it,  the  meaning  of  that  delicate  Brazilian 
wrord  paciencia.  If  the  steamer  is  lucky  enough  to 
arrive  very  early  in  the  morning,  baggage  for  the 
custom-house  may  be  delivered  on  shore  the  same 
day,  but  the  traveler  would  do  well  not  to  think  of 
such  celerity,  but  to  go  straight  to  a hotel,  pass  the 
day  as  comfortably  as  possible,  and  defer  all  at- 
tempts at  redemption  of  trunks  until  the  next  morn- 
ing. Once  landed  at  Fifteenth-of-November 
Square,  a tilbury  may  be  hired,  provided  there  is 
no  wish  to  remain  with  one’s  companion.  A tilbury 
has  room  for  only  one  person  besides  and  beside  the 
driver;  it  is  a two-wheeled  gig  on  springs,  very 
pleasant  for  riding  and  suitable  for  the  narrow 
crooked  streets  of  old  Rio.  Officially  it  costs  two 


HOTELS  AT  RIO 


29 


or  three  milreis,  but  at  the  end  of  the  journey, 
when  the  acquaintance  of  the  driver  has  been  made, 
five  milreis  is  a closer  estimate.  There  are  now 
(1907)  no  good  hotels  within  easy  distance  of  the 
water.  Probably  on  the  new  Avenida  Central  one 
or  two  hotels  will  be  built,  but  those  available  now 
lie  beyond  the  center  of  the  city.  On  the  Cattete, 
one  of  the  main  streets  along  the  bay,  are  two  or 
three  moderately  good  hotels,  and  still  farther 
away  lie  the  better  ones;  but  nothing  as  yet  meets 
the  demand  for  a first-class,  modern,  cosmopolitan 
hotel,  such  as  can  be  found  in  New  York  and 
Buenos  Aires.  The  stranger  must  be  warned 
against  many  pensions  or  boarding-houses  which 
are  merely  disreputable  lodgings. 

All  hotels  in  Rio  make  a charge  at  so  much  a 
day  (from  eight  to  fourteen  milreis)  which  in- 
cludes the  room  with  use  of  bath,  morning  coffee 
and  rolls  served  usually  in  the  room,  breakfast  at 
eleven  and  dinner  at  six.  Wines  are  extra.  The 
tipping  habit  is  very  well  rooted  in  Rio,  and  it  is 
advisable  to  be  supplied  with  small  change  and 
large,  if  good  service  is  expected.  The  advice  usu- 
ally given  to  the  traveler  to  go  either  to  a hotel  at 
Corcovado  or  in  Petropolis,  to  escape  the  danger 
from  yellow  fever,  is  now  unnecessary;  there  is  less 
danger  from  yellow  fever,  at  any  time  of  the  year, 
than  there  is  from  typhoid  in  many  of  our  large 
cities.  As  far  as  the  climate  is  concerned  it  is  quite 
as  comfortable  in  Rio,  both  day  and  night,  at  all 


30 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


seasons  of  the  year,  as  it  is  higher  up,  considering 
the  tiresomeness  of  the  long  ride  to  reach  the  cooler 
heights.  Now  that  Rio  is  cleaned  and  remade  with 
good  drainage  and  water  supply,  plenty  of  fresh 
air  and  rapid  transit  facilities,  it  is  a healthy  city, 
and  the  slums  are  less  obnoxious  than  those  in  New 
York. 

Rapid  transit  is  offered  by  the  bonds,  clean,  new 
American  trolley-cars  running  from  a little  square 
close  to  the  Avenida,  southward  along  the  bay  and 
beyond.  There  are  two  classes  of  bonds,  first  class 
being  reserved  for  those  who  have  only  the  small- 
est lap  parcels  and  wear  both  coats  and  collars, 
while  second  class,  slower  and  less  frequent,  are 
enjoyed  chiefly  by  the  working-people  and  the  car- 
riers of  bags,  bundles  or  other  evidences  of  em- 
ployment. The  zone  system  of  charge  is  used,  the 
lowest  fare  being  200  reis  for  the  shortest  distance, 
and  after  three  o’clock  in  the  afternoon  excess  rates 
are  often  charged.  But  the  pleasure  of  a ride  to  the 
Botanical  Garden,  to  Ipanema  and  the  open  ocean, 
is  well  worth  every  cent  it  costs.  Toward  the  north 
and  west,  funny  little  mule-cars,  significant  of  im- 
perial days,  are  still  running  out  to  the  National 
Museum  or  the  race  course,  but  it  is  probable  that 
within  a few  months  even  these  wrill  be  displaced 
by  the  trolley.  The  fare  here  is  only  100  reis  for  the 
trip.  Away  from  the  street-cars,  unless  one  walks, 
it  is  necessary  to  take  a tilbury  or  to  arrange  at  a 
livery  for  a carriage,  but  this  vehicle  is  at  such 


A BRAZILIAN  CUSTOM-HOUSE  31 


extravagant  cost  that  I can  give  no  direct  advice 
concerning  it.  All  my  knowledge  is  from  hearsay. 

The  custom-house  routine,  which  is  the  most 
important  question  after  securing  lodgment,  is 
awkward  and  slow,  compared  to  that  in  any  Eu- 
ropean or  American  city,  but  it  is  unavoidable, 
and  might  better  be  considered  as  a pleasant  intro- 
duction to  Rio  life,  than  as  a nuisance,  which  it  be- 
comes on  frequent  repetition.  The  alfandega  lies 
practically  at  the  foot  of  the  Rua  (street)  do  Com- 
mercio,  in  an  old-fashioned  building  quite  unsuited 
to  its  purpose.  It  is  wise  not  to  go  there  till  about 
one  o’clock  on  the  day  after  arrival.  At  this  cus- 
tom-house the  traveler’s  name  must  be  declared, 
how  many  pieces  of  baggage  he  brought  into  the 
country,  and  the  contents  of  each  piece.  Then  a 
slip  of  paper  is  given  the  traveler,  who  departs 
with  an  inspector  into  an  inner  store-room ; here  he 
identifies  his  baggage,  opens  and  exposes  the  con- 
tents. The  inspection  is  a matter  of  form  and 
detains  one  only  a few  moments  with  the  polite  in- 
spector, by  whom  a kindly  tip  is  not  misunderstood. 
Printed  signs  on  the  walls  assert  that  no  tips  should 
be  given,  but  no  one  observes  that  notice.  After 
the  inspection  is  finished,  the  trunks  and  boxes  are 
at  the  mercy  of  the  mob  of  carriers  outside  the 
doors,  unless  one  has  been  wise  enough  to  make  a 
bargain  with  the  hotel  porter,  who  must  then  be 
on  the  spot  to  take  charge.  Or  the  bargain  can  be 
made  before  entering  with  some  teamster,  who 


32 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


will  then  assert  his  authority  and  keep  off  those 
less  fortunate.  Ten  milreis  is  a moderate  sum  to 
allow  for  cartage  of  trunks  from  the  custom-house 
to  the  hotel;  although  to  hotels  on  the  hills  or  in 
Petropolis  much  more  must  be  conceded. 

One  great  solace  in  Rio,  and  in  fact  in  all  Brazil, 
as  well  as  in  other  parts  of  South  America,  is  the 
unvarying  politeness  of  all,  whether  stranger, 
friend,  acquaintance  or  laborer.  The  traveler  need 
have  no  hesitation  in  asking  questions,  even  if  he 
does  not  speak  Portuguese,  but  he  should  never 
forget  to  put  in  all  the  “please  words”  he  can  com- 
mand. 

The  most  important  step,  after  the  arrangement 
for  hotel  and  custom-house;  is  to  visit  the  banker. 
A letter  of  credit  is  the  best  method  of  carrying  the 
equivalent  for  money.  There  is  no  American  bank 
in  South  America,  and  all  commercial  and  finan- 
cial transactions  are  conducted  through  one  of  the 
English  banks,  branches  of  which  are  located  in 
all  the  important  cities.  In  all  commercial  houses, 
however,  English  is  sure  to  be  spoken.  In  Rio 
banks  close  for  a noon  hour,  and  it  is  best  to  be  in- 
formed, before  going  to  the  center  of  the  city, 
whether  the  bank  is  open  at  all — holidays  are  plen- 
tiful— and  what  are  the  best  hours  for  business. 
In  any  case,  allow  plenty  of  time — thirty  to  forty- 
five-minutes — at  the  bank.  There  being  no  fixed 
exchange,  if  the  rate  is  high,  only  a small  amount 
of  money  should  be  purchased  at  one  time,  or  if 


COST  OF  LIVING  IN  RIO 


33 


the  rate  is  low,  it  is  advisable  to  take  advantage  of 
it.  The  banker’s  judgment  should  be  obtained,  in 
any  event,  for  by  care  and  watchfulness  many  a 
milreis  may  be  saved.  This  is  a puzzling  statement 
to  one  who  has  not  sold  gold  on  a fluctuating  mar- 
ket, but  it  will  not  take  long  to  understand  the  rea- 
son. In  Brazil  there  is  no  coin  in  circulation,  all 
money  being  paper,  and  gold  is  as  much  a com- 
modity as  wheat;  therefore  the  price  of  gold  varies 
according  to  the  demand  or  to  the  manipulations 
in  the  market.  This  affects  the  cost  of  living  very 
decidedly,  and  all  who  have  experience  will  state 
that  to-day  it  costs  twice  as  much  to  live  in  Brazil 
as  in  the  United  States,  and  it  takes  a clever  man- 
ager to  live  within  that  estimate.  This  extraordi- 
nary increase  in  price  affects  all  items  both  of  com- 
fort and  luxury,  and  enters  into  even  the  minutest 
detail  of  shopping. 

The  shops  in  Rio  are  rapidly  becoming  the  same 
as  shops  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  since  the  com- 
pletion of  the  new  Avenida,  where  the  department 
store  idea  is  gaining  favor;  but  away  from  this 
center  shops,  in  the  early  English  sense,  are  still 
the  rule,  and  particular  articles  are  found  in  par- 
ticular places,  from  door  to  door. 

The  Ouvidor  is  a unique  street  of  Rio,  to  destroy 
which  would  lead  to  a revolution,  so  fond  of  it  are 
the  people.  It  is  the  center  of  the  shopping  life  in 
the  city,  and  also  the  spot  where  most  of  the  sight- 
seeing begins  and  ends.  The  street  is  so  narrow 


34 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


that  vehicles  are  not  permitted  in  it,  and  from  wall 
to  wall  it  is  crowded  the  whole  day  long  by  busy 
people  in  a hurry  (some  Brazilians  can  hurry)  or 
by  loungers  and  shoppers;  nearly  every  corner  has 
a cafe  and  restaurant,  every  ten  feet  there  is  a door 
giving  entrance  to  a shop;  during  the  heat  of  the 
day  awnings  are  stretched  in  some  places  from  roof 
to  roof.  The  Ouvidor,  by  day,  is  the  resort  for  the 
political  and  gossipy  world  of  Rio.  By  night  it  is 
as  deserted  as  Wall  Street,  nor  is  there  in  Rio  an 
up-town  life  beginning  after  dark.  A few  theaters 
and  restaurants,  the  clubs  and  home,  suffice  for  the 
end  of  the  day. 

If  the  traveler  remains  long  enough  in  Rio,  he 
can  easily  spend  two  weeks  in  just  that  sort  of  sight- 
seeing which  is  so  profitable,  but  so  tiring,  to  the 
tourist  in  Europe.  In  fact,  it  is  interesting  to  find 
oneself  in  much  the  same  state  of  mind  as  that 
which  is  experienced  in  visiting  Old  World  capi- 
tals. Undoubtedly  the  trip  that  gives  the  greatest 
reward  within  the  shortest  time  is  to  ascend  the 
mountain  rising  back  of  the  city.  This  is  Corco- 
vado,  the  highest  peak  of  all  about  the  harbor,  and 
is  the  most  accessible.  Two  routes  are  open  to  the 
visitor:  one  by  a cog  railway,  the  other  by  a trolley 
beginning  at  Carioca  Square,  the  terminus  of  other 
trolleys.  The  latter  is  preferable,  because  it  goes 
through  the  older  part  of  the  city,  across  the  an- 
cient aqueduct  which  once  brought  water  from  the 
hills,  and  gives  a clearer  idea  of  the  character  of 


SIGHT-SEEING  IN  RIO 


35 

the  city  while  it  was  yet  the  seat  of  an  empire.  At 
the  top  the  view  is  entrancing. 

The  National  Museum,  formerly  the  palace  of 
the  emperor,  lies  on  the  opposite  side  of  Rio;  to 
reach  it,  the  car  passes  through  some  delightful 
slums,  where  native  laziness  and  good  nature  are 
seen  in  all  their  picturesqueness.  The  building  is 
hidden  away  in  an  immense  park.  The  native  Bra- 
zilian collections  are  particularly  fine. 

Other  places  of  interest  within  easy  reach  are 
the  Praza  da  Acclamacao  with  the  statue  of  the 
emperor;  near-by  is  a statue  to  Tiradentes,  the  first 
Brazilian  martyr  to  liberty,  and  the  old  opera- 
house.  Another  noticeable  building  of  earlier  days 
is  the  Misericordia  Hospital,  facing  the  bay; 
this  is  an  enormous  structure,  and  used  to  be 
reported  in  geographies,  when  I was  a boy,  as  the 
biggest  hospital  in  the  world.  Whether  it  remains 
so  to-day  I can  not  say,  but  it  is  well  worth  visit- 
ing. In  the  city  is  the  telegraph  office,  once  the 
home  of  the  emperors,  and  near-by  the  church  of 
Candelaria,  quite  as  famed  for  its  story  as  for  its 
beauty;  it  was  built  in  fulfilment  of  a vow,  made 
by  a very  pious  lady,  that  if  she  were  saved  from 
shipwreck  she  would  dedicate  her  fortune  to  the 
Church.  Her  piety  is  proved  in  Candelaria. 

The  Botanical  Garden,  at  the  extreme  end  of  the 
city,  is  beautiful  and  for  the  student  has  treasures 
inaccessible  elsewhere;  but  for  the  sight-seer  it  is 
disappointing,  because  he  is  apt  to  think  of  it  in 


36 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


comparison  with  the  Thiergarten  in  Berlin,  Hyde 
Park  in  London  or  Central  Park  in  New  York, 
though  as  a matter  of  fact  it  is  so  lonely  and  un- 
frequented that  the  snakes  are  not  afraid  to  come 
out. 

Picture  post-cards  are  plentiful  throughout  Bra- 
zil, but  the  country  is  as  a whole  poorly  photo- 
graphed, and  it  is  a difficult  matter,  even  in  Rio, 
to  secure  good  illustrations  of  views  either  of  the 
street  scenes  or  of  nature.  Photographs  are  expen- 
sive, too,  except  in  Sao  Paulo.  The  amateur  will 
also  find  it  difficult  to  take  photographs,  especially 
in  the  coast  regions,  on  account  of  the  dampness  of 
the  atmosphere  and  the  cost  of  developing  plates 
or  films,  which,  in  Rio  or  elsewhere,  is  excessive, 
as  compared  to  what  is  regularly  paid  in  the 
United  States,  in  Europe  or  farther  south  of  Bra- 
zil. I advise  that  films  be  developed  at  once,  or 
packed  away  as  dry  as  possible  till  Montevideo  or 
Buenos  Aires  is  reached. 

The  old,  perhaps  dirty  and  unhealthy,  but  cer- 
tainly fascinating  and  romantic,  Rio  is  disappear- 
ing; in  its  place  is  arising  a new  metropolis,  des- 
tined to  become  one  of  the  great  seaports,  as  well 
as  one  of  the  most  charming  residence  cities,  of  the 
western  hemisphere.  The  two  great  contributing 
factors  to  this  metamorphosis  are  the  almost  com- 
pleted Avenida  Central  and  the  Harbor  Works. 

I could  not  drag  myself  away  from  the  Avenida; 
when  finished  and  occupied  from  end  to  end  by 


Y.  M.  C.  A. 


37 


substantial  structures  like  the  National  Library, 
the  Opera-house,  the  (St.  Louis  Brazilian  Build- 
ing) Monroe  Palace,  it  will  be  one  of  the  great 
streets  of  the  world,  and  the  surroundings  are 
planned  in  a style  to  give  a suitable  setting  to  the 
whole;  away  from  this  center,  too,  numerous  alter- 
ations are  going  on  which  will  eventually  entirely 
modify  Rio,  but  as  yet  these  alterations  are  only 
partly  completed. 

Rio  de  Janeiro  is  a wonderfully  beautiful  city. 
Its  environs  are  as  charming  as  imagination  can 
portray,  and  no  one  can  grow  tired  of  the  changing 
views  or  of  the  rapid  panorama  of  life.  But  to  seek 
information  on  any  topic,  or  to  try  to  get  data  con- 
cerning any  particular  thing,  is  maddening.  The 
stranger  who  must  have  sources  of  knowledge  on 
which  he  can  rely  will  find  that  persons  are  more 
trustworthy  than  books.  For  Rio  itself  there  is  a 
small  hand-book  in  French  published  by  L'Etoile 
du  Sud,  a French  weekly  paper,  which  gives  sug- 
gestions about  traveling  into  the  interior  by  the 
railway,  but  for  much  of  the  detail  of  the  city’s  or 
the  nation’s  activities  publications  are  hard  to  find. 
One  good  and  accurate  source  of  information  is 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  the  Rua  da  Quitanda  39.  This 
is  an  American  institution  conducted  in  Portuguese 
for  the  benefit  of  native  youths,  although  they  may 
have  English  classes  for  the  growing  colony  of 
English-speaking  young  men  who  are  coming  to 
the  city  under  the  impetus  of  its  growing  industry. 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


38 

The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  is  headed  by  an  American,  and 
working  in  harmony  with  it  in  the  same  building 
is  the  Bible  Society.  These  men  are  not  only  will- 
ing to  help  the  stranger,  but  they  are  accurately  in- 
formed about  many  of  the  details  of  Brazilian  life, 
habits  and  business  affairs.  It  is  not  improbable 
that  they  may  establish,  as  an  adjunct  to  their  class 
work,  a bureau  of  information  and  service,  which 
the  commercial  interests  of  the  city  seem  so  com- 
pletely to  have  neglected. 

Another  supply  of  information  will  be  found  in 
the  newspapers  of  Rio,  especially  the  great  daily 
of  Brazil,  the  Jornal  do  Commercio.  It  is  an  un- 
official but  thoroughly  trustworthy  index  of  affairs. 
Some  of  the  employees  speak  English  and  are  sure 
to  welcome  any  visitor  seeking  information;  and 
he  is  as  sure  not  to  go  away  disappointed.  They 
all  know  how  to  obtain  and  to  supply  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  latest  happenings.  The  Bra- 
zilian Review,  an  English  trade  weekly  conserving 
English  commercial  interests,  is  to  my  mind  the 
best  English  publication  in  South  America.  The 
editors  and  employees  are  always  eager  to  help  the 
stranger,  and  the  advice  given  is  accurate  and  com- 
prehensive. 

If  the  traveler  wishes,  he  can  leave  the  city  by 
steamer  across  the  bay  from  the  foot  of  the  Ave- 
nida,  finally  reaching  the  trains  of  the  Leopoldina 
Railway,  which  take  him  into  the  northern  por- 
tions of  the  state  of  Minas  Geraes,  into  the  state 


RAILWAY  TO  SAO  PAULO 


39 


of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  to  the  aristocratic  watering 
place  of  Petropolis,  or  the  old  German  colony  set- 
tlement of  Novo  Friburgo.  This  is  owned  by  an 
English  company,  and  its  lines,  near  Rio  at  least, 
are  excellent  in  equipment  and  sendee.  The  gen- 
eral offices  are  on  the  Cattete. 

To  go  by  rail  to  Sao  Paulo  or  into  the  immense 
interior  north  and  west,  embraced  in  the  states  of 
Minas  and  Rio  de  Janeiro,  the  Central  Railway  of 
Brazil  must  be  taken.  This  is  owned  and  managed 
by  the  government.  All  trains  leave  from  the  Cen- 
tral Station  in  the  northern  part  of  the  city,  where 
are  also  the  general  offices  at  which  unsatisfactory 
information  may  be  obtained.  The  equipment 
compares  favorably  with  the  average  system  in  the 
United  States.  There  are  first-  and  second-class 
carriages,  but  only  the  first-class  should  be  used. 
(This  applies  to  travel  throughout  South  Amer- 
ica.) Railway  travel  in  Brazil  is  expensive.  The 
government  charges  a tax  beyond  the  price  of  the 
ticket,  and  no  baggage  is  carried  free;  a trunk 
checked  to  destination  will  cost  nearly  as  much  as 
a ticket.  If  there  is  time  it  is  better  to  send  all 
boxes  by  freight  in  advance,  and  to  be  very  careful 
that  the  price  is  fixed  in  writing.  Also,  the  traveler 
is  not  permitted  to  carry  much  into  the  car  with 
him,  unless  he  is  clever  enough  to  tip  the  conductor 
bountifully,  who  will  then  shut  his  eyes  to  any  in- 
fraction of  the  rules.  The  day  cars  on  all  trains  are 
comfortable  and  supplied  with  all  conveniences, 


40 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


but  the  farther  way  from  Rio  or  Sao  Paulo,  the 
dirtier  and  older  the  car  is  likely  to  be. 

There  are  day  and  night  trains  making  the  jour- 
ney of  230  miles  to  Sao  Paulo  in  twelve  hours. 
The  night  train  has  clean  and  comfortable  sleep- 
ing-cars, but  the  passenger  must  leave  them  an 
hour  before  arriving  at  Sao  Paulo,  because  the 
gage  changes.  The  day  train,  7 A.  M.,  is  prefera- 
ble, because  the  scenery  and  the  skilful  engineer- 
ing climbing  the  mountain  can  be  enjoyed.  The 
cars  are  on  the  American  pattern  and  many  of 
them  are  built  in  the  States.  The  speed  of  the  train 
is  good,  but  at  many  stations  it  makes  long  stops 
which  consume  time  on  the  way.  Good  meals  are 
served,  but  the  traveler  unacquainted  with  Portu- 
guese will  find  that  he  must  depend  on  the  sign 
manual  unless  he  happily  discovers  some  fellow- 
passenger  who  talks  a different  language  from 
Portuguese. 

As  a rule  the  cultured  people  of  South  America 
speak  French,  and  frequently  English,  in  addition 
to  the  native  tongue;  but  almost  for  the  only  time 
in  my  life  I was  obliged  to  discourse  in  pantomime, 
on  the  first  part  of  this  journey  to  Sao  Paulo.  The 
conductor  and  other  trainmen  were  native,  the  res- 
taurant keepers,  my  companions  for  the  first  few 
hours,  spoke  only  Portuguese,  and  I began  to  fear 
that  the  day  must  expire  without  a single  exchange 
of  ideas  between  me  and  my  fellows,  when  one  of 
the  passengers  taken  on  at  a way  station  ventured 


SAO  PAULO 


4i 


to  inquire  if  I was  not  an  Englishman.  “No,”  I 
answered,  “I  am  a North  American.”  “Oh,”  he 
exclaimed;  “then  perhaps  you  talk  English?”  and 
he  at  once  began  to  talk  to  me  in  as  fluent  English 
as  I ever  heard  a foreigner  use. 

A pleasant  habit  these  trains  have — and  they  are 
never  in  a hurry  in  Brazil,  so  that  express  means 
little — of  halting  at  every  station,  two  to  ten  min- 
utes, according  to  the  whim  of  the  conductor; 
everybody  gets  out,  nearly  every  one  takes  a drink, 
if  only  a drop  of  cheap  rum  and  water  at  the  cost 
of  five  cents;  all  but  the  ladies  smoke  the  cigarette, 
and  when  paciencia  has  been  nursed  into  full  activ- 
ity, the  train  goes  on  again,  to  repeat  the  perform- 
ance at  the  next  stop. 

Sao  Paulo  is  the  most  modern  city  in  the  repub- 
lic and  has  many  features  which  make  it  attractive 
and  even  familiar  to  the  American.  The  hotels 
are  nothing  to  be  proud  of;  in  fact,  Brazil  can  not 
consider  herself  awake  completely  till  Rio  and 
Sao  Paulo  have  hotels  as  suitable  for  strangers  as 
those  in  Buenos  Aires,  and  there  is  a fortune  for 
that  syndicate  which  would  have  the  courage  to 
establish  a chain  of  hotels  on  the  model  of  the  bet- 
ter class  of  Paris,  London  or  New  York,  in  the 
two  large  cities  of  Brazil,  extending  perhaps  to 
Montevideo  and  Argentina.  In  Sao  Paulo  nearly 
every  language  is  spoken,  so  that  the  embarrass- 
ment of  silence  is  no  longer  to  be  feared.  Italian 
and  German  are  the  most  frequently  heard  besides 


42 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


Portuguese,  of  course,  although,  owing  to  the  ear- 
lier influences  of  England  and  the  fashion  of  send- 
ing children  to  English  schools,  English  is  spoken 
by  many  of  the  upper  classes. 

Two  great  factors  are  at  work  to-day  in  Sao 
Paulo,  adding  to  the  use  of  English  speech,  but  I 
am  glad  to  say  that  these  are  American.  I refer  to 
the  excellent  Mackenzie  (so-called  American) 
College,  and  to  the  Tramways,  Light  and  Power 
Company.  I spent  the  greater  part  of  a day  with 
Doctor  Horace  Lane,  the  president  of  the  college, 
and  from  the  townspeople  themselves  I heard 
nothing  but  admiration  and  praise  for  this  educa- 
tional institution.  It  was  founded  in  1870  by  the 
Reverend  George  W.  Chamberlain,  in  connection 
with  the  Presbyterian  mission,  but  was  later  with- 
drawn, to  become  independent  under  a charter 
from  the  state  of  New  York,  with  funds  given  to 
commemorate  John  T.  Mackenzie,  of  that  city. 
The  entire  system  of  education,  from  kindergarten 
to  the  department  conferring  collegiate  degrees, 
is  conducted  on  American  models;  it  has  affilia- 
tions with  some  of  the  colleges  in  the  United  States, 
and  many  of  its  graduates  take  advantage  of  this 
privilege  to  finish  their  studies  in  North  America. 
Instruction  is  chiefly  in  Portuguese,  although  other 
languages  are,  of  course,  taught;  but  the  college  is 
not  intended  for  foreigners;  it  is  planned  to  give 
the  native  Brazilian  just  those  opportunities  which 
the  North  American  boy  or  girl  has  in  our  best' 


AMERICAN  INFLUENCES 


43 


schools.  The  effect  on  the  youth  of  the  land  is 
marvelous;  they  begin  to  understand  what  is  meant 
by  education,  training,  and  preparation  for  real 
work.  Irrespective  of  creed,  the  better  class  of 
Brazilians  send  their  children  to  the  American 
college.  Only  recently  the  attention  of  the  Ger- 
man government  has  been  called  to  it,  because  its 
influence  does  so  much  to  establish  national  ideals; 
so  that  if  Brazil  is  to  become  Germanized,  every 
encouragement  must  be  given  to  found  a school  in 
Sao  Paulo  on  German  models  to  counteract  the 
spirit  of  Americanism. 

The  other  American  influence  at  work  in  Sao 
Paulo  is  industrial.  I refer  to  the  Tramways  Com- 
pany. Although  the  capital  is  largely  Canadian, 
and  the  home  office  in  Toronto,  yet  the  methods, 
the  system  and  the  activity  are  American  in  the 
significant  sense  of  the  word.  They  have  supplied 
the  city  with  seventy-five  miles  of  trolley,  and  the 
service  offered,  with  freight-cars,  postal-cars  and 
trailers,  is  as  good  as  the  best  in  American  cities. 
The  relations  between  the  corporation  and  the 
municipal  government  are  harmonious,  and  the 
people  are  learning  the  meaning  of  the  word  “hus- 
tle.” In  Sao  Paulo  they  speak  of  the  era  before 
and  after  the  trolley,  and  the  young  man  who  had 
previously  been  content  with  a government  clerk- 
ship on  small  pay,  and  whose  sole  desire  was  to  see 
Paris,  now  has  the  ambition  to  learn  English  and 
to  become  an  employee  of  the  “Litanpaua”  Com- 


44 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


pany.  It  furnishes  electric  power,  from  its  plant 
up  the  Tiete  River,  to  many  factories  in  the  city, 
where  cotton  goods,  hats  and  shoes  are  made.  An 
American,  Clarke  by  name,  has  a shoe  factory  that 
clothes  the  feet  of  half  Brazil. 

From  Sao  Paulo  numerous  trains  run  in  several 
directions  into  the  interior,  through  the  great  cof- 
fee “fazendas”  (plantations).  These  are  either 
English  or  government  roads,  generally  on  a pay- 
ing basis.  On  one  of  them,  about  150  miles  in  the 
interior,  lies  the  famous  Dumont  estate,  now  an 
English  stock  company.  Here  coffee  is  grown  on 
scientific  lines;  a private  railway  extends  through- 
out the  sixty-eight  square  miles,  15,000  acres  of 
which  are  under  cultivation,  and  employment  is 
given  to  7,000  people,  mostly  Italians. 

Information  about  most  things  in  the  state  can 
be  obtained  without  loss  of  temper;  the  govern- 
ment prints  much  reading-matter  in  many  lan- 
guages, and  has  a bureau  of  information  especially 
for  the  immigrant.  In  the  hotels  are  printed  time- 
tables, but  I saw  no  folders  such  as  our  railways 
provide  with  such  prodigality. 

The  trip  down  the  mountain  to  Santos  must  not 
be  missed;  it  takes  three  hours  by  the  steam  and 
cable  railway,  and  affords  another  glimpse  of  the 
natural  charms  of  Brazilian  scenery.  This  rail- 
way is  also  owned  by  an  English  company,  and 
pays  the  highest  dividends  of  any  corporation  in 
Brazil.  Studied  as  a triumph  of  engineering,  as 


SANTOS 


45 


a paragon  of  completeness  in  equipment,  and  as  an 
object-lesson  in  the  service,  both  for  passengers  and 
freight,  it  might  serve  as  a model  for  railway  man- 
agement the  world  over;  but  as  a financial  organ- 
ization it  is  unpopular  in  the  country,  because  of 
its  excessively  high  charges,  its  unwillingness  to 
reconsider  the  monopoly  it  retains,  and  of  the 
slight  benefit  it  confers  upon  the  adjacent  territory. 

At  Santos  the  traveler  is  again  in  a tropic  sea- 
port, but  one  completely  transformed  by  the  ambi- 
tion and  energy  of  the  Brazilians  themselves,  aided 
of  course  by  British  money  and  engineering  skill. 
This  is  the  only  place  on  the  Brazilian  coast  where 
the  steamer  lies  alongside  the  pier  as  in  New  York, 
and  it  is  easy  to  step  to  the  dock  and  back  again. 
Santos  is  a busy  place,  the  greatest  coffee  mart  in 
the  world,  with  vast  shipping  activities.  Every 
flag  except  the  stars  and  stripes  can  be  seen  here, 
carrying  away  some  of  the  sixty  million  dollars’ 
worth  of  coffee  from  Santos.  The  hotels  are  poor 
and  so  uninviting  that  it  is  wiser  to  come  down 
from  Sao  Paulo  in  the  morning,  if  the  purpose  is 
only  to  see  the  city  and  to  catch  a steamer.  There 
are  reasonably  good  pensions  in  the  neighborhood, 
for  a longer  stay.  Pleasant  rides  may  be  taken  into 
the  surrounding  country,  but  a comfortable  way 
to  pass  the  time  is  to  sit  in  a restaurant  on  the  plaza 
and  drink  the  cool  German  beer  from  Sao  Paulo. 

The  journey  from  Rio  to  Santos  can  be  made  by 
any  Atlantic  liner  or  by  coasting  steamer,  an  easy 


46 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


night’s  ride  of  215  miles,  but  to  reach  a steamer 
from  shore  at  Rio  is  almost  as  much  of  a task  as 
it  is  to  land  there.  The  company  runs  a launch  for 
passengers,  but  it  is  necessary  to  ascertain  precisely 
when  it  leaves  the  wharf ; it  may  take  baggage,  but 
to  make  sure  that  baggage  reaches  the  steamer  it  is 
best  to  arrange  for  a boatman  to  transport  it 
thither.  The  government  places  a tax  on  tickets 
sold  for  sea  as  well  as  on  those  sold  for  land  travel, 
and  therefore  at  least  five  per  cent,  must  be  added 
to  the  price  of  the  steamer’s  ticket  for  the  cost  of 
leaving  Brazil. 

If  the  trip  to  Montevideo  or  Buenos  Aires  is 
made  for  pleasure,  it  is  my  advice  that  the  traveler 
take  a local  coasting  steamer  from  Rio  or  Santos. 
Through  steamers  go  direct  and  are  most  of  the 
time  out  of  sight  of  land,  but  local  steamers  stay 
close  to  shore  and  spend  six  days  or  more  in  going 
the  thousand  miles  to  Montevideo,  stopping  almost 
every  day  at  small  ports — Curitiba,  Paranagua, 
Itajahy  for  Blumenau,  and  Sao  Francisco.  By  this 
route  one  can  enjoy  some  of  the  most  beautiful 
scenery  in  the  world,  with  a delicious  subtropical 
climate,  and  glimpses  of  a mellow  and  unprogres- 
sive civilization  scarcely  discoverable  outside  of 
forgotten  parts  of  Italy.  At  Rio  Grande,  the  south- 
ernmost port  of  Brazil,  which  may  soon  be  made 
into  a safe  and  approachable  harbor  by  American 
enterprise,  is  a pleasant  American  Protestant  Epis- 
copal church  and  seminary.  From  here  a run  of 


Children  at  Play — Montevideo 


Street  in  Montevideo 


Emblem  of  Peace — Andean  Pass 


LANDING  AT  MONTEVIDEO  47 


twenty-four  hours  brings  one  to  Montevideo  and 
Uruguay. 

URUGUAY 


At  Montevideo  steamers  lie  at  anchor  in  the  har- 
bor about  a mile  from  shore;  there  is  usually  deep 
water  in  the  bay,  but  not  enough  for  all  ocean 
craft,  and  the  southeasterly  winds  are  treacherous 
for  those  too  close  to  shore.  The  unfinished  har- 
bor works  may  be  completed  within  the  decade, 
but  until  then  the  port  remains  inferior  to  the  de- 
mands upon  it.  A company’s  launch  brings  the 
traveler  and  his  baggage  ashore  together  at  the 
cost  of  one  dollar,  which  the  passenger  must  pay, 
and  it  would  be  unwise  to  undertake  the  passage 
by  any  other  conveyance.  One  dollar  of  Uru- 
guayan money  is  equivalent  to  one  dollar  Amer- 
ican money.  The  country  is  on  a genuine  gold 
basis,  although  native  gold  coin  is  not  seen.  The 
standard  coins  of  other  countries  have  a legal  ten- 
der value,  the  five-dollar  gold-piece  of  the  United 
States  being  taken  for  four  dollars  and  eighty- 
three  cents  ($5.00  U.  S.  equals  $4.83  Uruguayan), 
and  the  British  sovereign  being  equal  to  four  dol- 
lars and  seventy  cents  (£1.00  equals  $4.70  Uru- 
guayan). 

Passenger  and  baggage  land  at  the  custom-house 
wharf,  where  the  examination  is  immediately 
made,  rather  formally  and  carefully,  but  always 
politely.  It  will  not  be  difficult  to  find  some  person 


48 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


speaking  English,  although  a working  knowledge 
of  Spanish  is  of  decided  value.  From  the  wharf 
street-cars  (trolleys)  carry  passengers  to  the  center 
of  the  city  and  beyond;  the  hotel  district  is  within 
walking  distance,  and  it  is  perfectly  safe  to  employ 
any  of  the  porters  around  the  pier,  who  carry  trunks 
and  boxes  to  their  destination,  at  a reasonable 
charge  of  about  one  dollar.  A carriage  may  be 
hired,  but  carriages  are  expensive  comforts  in 
Montevideo,  the  compactness  of  the  business  area 
and  the  excellent  tramway  service  making  them 
unnecessary. 

Montevideo  has  good  hotels,  on  the  European 
model,  clean,  attractive  and  comfortable.  The  rate 
for  the  day  is  $2.50  to  $6.00,  which  always  includes 
morning  coffee,  an  elaborate  breakfast  at  noon,  and 
a dinner,  usually  with  wine,  at  six  o’clock.  In  some 
of  the  hotels  the  rooms  are  dark  with  no  outer  win- 
dows, and  with  only  the  classic  wash-bowl  and 
pitcher,  but  bath-rooms  are  plentiful;  here  men 
servants  do  most  of  the  chamber-work,  although  a 
maid  will  be  stationed  on  every  floor.  Tips  in 
Uruguay  should  of  course  be  dispensed,  but  they 
may  be  moderate  and  are  always  received  with 
gratitude  and  courtesy.  It  is  a real  pleasure  to  give 
a tip  in  Uruguay;  I never  was  in  a country  where 
ten  cents  aroused  such  cordial  appreciation  or 
where  fifty  cents  led  to  a more  elegant  expression 
of  thanks  coupled  with  a witty  discourse  on  the 
honors  of  service. 


MONTEVIDEO 


49 


The  currency  of  the  country  is  largely  paper  and 
very  good  paper  at  that,  clean,  handy  and  legible. 
There  is  some  silver  in  dollars,  and  all  the  small 
change  is  silver  and  nickel. 

The  city  of  Montevideo  is  very  clean  and  attract- 
ive; no  guide-book  is  published,  but  the  librerias 
(book-stores)  put  out  little  hand-books  with  maps, 
and  an  American  house  publishes  for  gratuitous 
distribution  a folder,  in  Spanish  however,  with 
railway  time-tables,  postal  news,  and  various  items 
of  information  which  the  traveler  seeks.  In  area 
the  city  is  large  for  its  300,000  inhabitants.  The 
main  and  business  section  lies  on  a narrow  strip  of 
land  jutting  into  the  River  Plate,  as  our  British 
cousins  call  it,  to  the  north  being  the  harbor  and  to 
the  south  open  water  toward  the  Atlantic.  The 
residence  and  larger  portion  of  Montevideo 
spreads  along  the  shore  for  miles  north  and  south 
of  this  peninsula.  The  clubs,  hotels,  theaters,  chief 
public  squares  and  shops  are  close  together.  Here 
it  is  less  strange  and  exotic  than  in  Brazil;  every- 
thing is  conducted  in  a way  which  may  seem 
different  but  which  is  nevertheless  familiar;  shop- 
ping is  conducted  with  French  graces,  although 
English  is  frequently  spoken  and  many  English 
goods  are  for  sale.  Bargaining  is  not  unknown, 
yet  the  prices  are  decently  fixed  so  that  the  pur- 
chaser is  convinced  that  he  comes  within  striking 
distance  of  the  real  value  of  the  article  he  re- 
quires. In  fact,  Uruguay  shows  that  polish  of 


50 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


civilization  which  may  be  called  continental.  The 
banks,  chiefly  English  (so  far  as  the  American  is 
concerned),  are  large  and  commodious,  and  one  is 
not  overwhelmed  with  the  feeling  that  really  the 
bank  is  doing  a favor  by  cashing  a draft. 

For  the  mere  tourist  there  is  not  much  to  see  in 
Montevideo.  The  cathedral  is  dignified  but  not 
imposing,  the  public  buildings  are  dignified  but 
not  magnificent,  and  the  parks  are  lovely  but  sim- 
ple. In  the  suburbs  the  little  hill — Cerro — which 
first  made  the  name  of  the  city  famous  throughout 
the  world,  is  worth  visiting,  and  the  watering  place 
of  Pocitos  is  an  endless  source  of  delight  for  one 
who  wishes  to  enjoy  a bath  in  pure  salt  water,  or 
who  cares  to  feast  the  eyes  on  the  most  charming, 
the  best-dressed  and  the  best-mannered  men  and 
women  in  South  America. 

Information  about  Uruguay  is  easily  obtainable, 
but  not  always  up  to  date  or  trustworthy,  yet  the 
government  is  doing  more  energetic  work  of  late, 
and  all  the  business  houses,  the  commercial  agen- 
cies and  other  private  concerns  furnish  data  on 
which  the  student  or  the  visitor  may  rely.  Unfor- 
tunately the  newspapers  are  the  lowest  fountain  of 
knowledge;  they  are  largely  political  and  therefore 
subject  to  temporary  suspension  at  any  time,  and 
they  are  so  close  to  Buenos  Aires  that  all  general 
news  comes  from  across  the  river  with  the  metro- 
politan papers  in  the  morning.  Time-tables  and 
steamer  guides  can  be  had  for  the  asking,  so  that 


RAILWAYS  IN  URUGUAY 


51 

never  an  hour  need  be  lost  in  ascertaining  what  to 
do  and  how  to  do  it.  If  the  traveler  is  leaving  the 
city  by  rail,  the  only  station  whence  all  trains  de- 
part is  to  the  north,  where  the  peninsula  joins  the 
mainland.  There  are  only  three  directions  in 
which  to  travel;  toward  Nico  Perez  and  Minas  in 
the  northeast,  toward  the  Brazilian  frontier  at 
Rivera  north,  and  toward  the  northwest  to  Merce- 
des or  Colonia.  Express  trains  run  three  times  a 
week,  are  comfortable  and  first-class  in  every  re- 
spect, carrying  good  sleeping-cars  for  night  travel; 
local  trains  are  comfortable  but  slow.  The  cost  of 
travel  is  almost  five  cents  a mile  and  the  rate  twenty 
miles  an  hour.  To  reach  the  upper  waters  of  the 
Uruguay  River,  the  railway  has  a line  from  Rio 
Negro,  twelve  hours  north  of  Montevideo,  clear  to 
the  Brazilian  frontier  through  Salto  and  beyond  to 
Uruguayana;  but  the  easier  journey  (especially  if 
Fray  Bentos,  where  the  Liebig  Beef  Company  has 
its  plant,  is  the  objective  point) , is  by  steamer  from 
Buenos  Aires. 

Travel  in  the  interior  of  Uruguay,  as  long  as  one 
sticks  to  the  railway,  is  very  comfortable,  although 
some  surprises  in  the  character  of  hotels  must  be 
expected.  For  a man  there  are  only  annoyances; 
but  for  a woman,  especially  one  who  knows  little 
about  Spanish  life  and  less  about  Spanish  hotels, 
the  day  and  the  night  will  be  a continuous  mystery. 
Away  from  the  railway,  the  gentleness  of  the  peo- 
ple and  their  cordiality  must  make  amends  for 


52 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


much  of  the  simplicity  in  domestic  routine.  Clean- 
liness can  always  be  secured  by  a little  tact,  and 
privacy  is  not  impossible.  There  are  some  condi- 
tions even  in  North  American  country  taverns 
which  need  improvement,  and  therefore  too  ex- 
plicit information  or  comparison  about  South 
American  hotels  may  be  omitted,  but  experiences 
in  hotels  and  taverns  outside  of  the  large  cities 
might  furnish  profitable  reading. 

Uruguay  is  beautifully  photographed,  and  the 
views  of  country  or  town  seem  strangely  cheap 
after  coming  from  Brazil.  The  clear  dry  air  con- 
tributes to  this,  and  the  amateur  finds  that  snap- 
shotting is  easy.  Not  only  does  he  get  good  views, 
but  films  or  plates  are  so  well  and  inexpensively 
developed,  that  what  is  extravagant  in  Brazil  is 
merely  a warrantable  expenditure  in  Uruguay. 

To  Buenos  Aires  the  traveler  may  take  an  ocean 
liner,  if  one  happens  to  be  in  port,  but  the  best 
steamer  is  that  of  the  Mahanovich  Line,  which 
runs  every  night,  and  occasionally  by  day,  across 
the  La  Plata.  An  opposition  line  offers  accommo- 
dations, but  they  are  not  considered  first-class.  The 
single  trip  costs  six  dollars  gold,  round  trip  ten 
dollars;  but  the  passenger  must  pay  for  the  row- 
boat to  take  him  from  shore,  about  one  dollar,  in- 
cluding baggage.  The  fare  includes  state-room,  a 
good  dinner  with  wine  served  shortly  after  the 
steamer  leaves  at  six  o’clock,  and  coffee  with  dry 
biscuit  (crackers)  early  in  the  morning  while  ap- 


LANDING  AT  BUENOS  AIRES  53 


proaching  the  docks.  The  meals  are  excellent;  if 
the  boat  is  crowded  it  is  advisable  to  secure  a berth 
in  advance,  and  to  request  the  steward  (tip)  to  re- 
serve a seat  at  the  first  table.  There  is  nothing  to 
see  except  water  in  crossing  the  river,  for  the  banks 
are  low,  sandy  and  invisible,  but  it  is  worth  while 
getting  up  early  in  the  morning  to  see  the  entrance 
into  the  harbor  and  the  celebrated  docks  of  Buenos 
Aires. 

ARGENTINA 

Buenos  Aires  is  to  my  mind  one  of  the  wonders 
of  the  American  world.  No  city  in  the  United 
States  is  its  equal  in  completeness,  and  it  appeals 
to  the  traveler  exactly  as  does  a continental  city  at 
the  first  moment  of  arrival.  Here  the  steamer  ties 
close  to  the  dock,  so  that  one  steps  ashore  along  a 
civilized  gangway  into  the  custom-house.  The 
examination  of  baggage  is  conducted  methodically 
and  carefully,  but  politely,  yet  duties  are  charged 
on  some  articles  that  usually  escape  in  European 
custom-houses.  There  are  English-  or  French- 
speaking  officials  for  those  who  can  not  explain 
their  wants  in  Spanish.  A small  fee  of  thirty  to 
fifty  cents  (local  money)  is  collected  for  each  piece 
of  baggage,  but  this  may  be  paid  in  any  currency 
at  the  exchange  office  on  the  pier.  Argentina  is  on 
a silver-currency  basis  which  is  easy  to  compre- 
hend. All  prices  are  given  in  terms  of  silver,  and 
written  or  printed  with  m — n after  them.  Thus, 


54 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


at  the  rate  of  exchange  fixed  by  law  and  invariable, 
one  dollar  gold  equals  two  dollars  and  twenty- 
seven  cents  silver;  and  while  foreign  gold  is  liable 
to  slight  fluctuation,  as  it  is  in  New  York,  yet  the 
five-dollar  gold-piece,  United  States  money,  is 
equivalent  to  five  dollars  and  eighteen  cents,  Ar- 
gentine gold;  and  the  British  sovereign  is  equiva- 
lent to  five  dollars  and  four  cents,  Argentine  gold. 
Therefore  an  easy  calculation  is  to  reckon  one  dol- 
lar in  Argentine  silver  or  paper  money  equal  to 
forty-five  cents  in  American  money. 

Politeness  is  the  rule  in  Argentina  quite  as  much 
as  in  Brazil  and  Uruguay,  but  the  people  are  more 
alert  and  show  a continental  influence  which  some- 
what modifies  their  habits.  On  leaving  the  dock 
the  best  and  cheapest  way  is  to  take  a carriage. 
Vehicles  can  be  found  at  every  corner  and  along 
many  of  the  streets,  and  are  under  as  complete  con- 
trol as  in  Paris.  For  the  course  one  dollar  m — n 
is  the  charge,  a slight  tip  not  being  refused,  though 
not  so  obligatory  as  in  Rio  or  London.  Baggage 
may  be  left  for  the  hotel  porter  to  attend  to,  or  por- 
ters can  be  found  at  trustworthy  agencies,  if  the 
carriage  is  not  able  to  convey  everything,  and  the 
cost  will  be  reasonable.  The  hotels  in  the  city  are 
planted  on  or  near  the  Avenida  Mayo,  called  fa- 
miliarly Avenida,  which  runs  from  the  Plaza  2 de 
Mayo  about  a mile  to  the  Calle  Callao.  All  the 
hotels  are  good,  but,  like  Kentucky  whisky,  some 
are  better  than  others,  and  a few  are  luxurious; 


HOTELS  AT  BUENOS  AIRES  55 


they  are  quite  French,  however  much  their  pro- 
prietors may  strive  to  make  them  resemble  Italian 
or  English  hotels.  The  traveler  should  avoid  those 
having  a reputation  for  housing  transients  of  both 
sexes,  but  this  can  be  discovered  only  by  intimate 
questioning  of  persons  who  keep  track  of  such  gos- 
sip. Buenos  Aires  is  so  modern  and  European 
that  any  one  who  has  ever  been  abroad  would  feel 
thoroughly  at  home  there.  At  hotels  it  is  well  to 
bargain  in  advance,  as  often  a dollar  or  so  may  be 
saved  from  the  tariff  mentioned  but  seldom  printed 
by  the  proprietor.  The  price  will  be  from  six  to 
twelve  dollars  m — n a day,  including  room  and  use 
of  bath,  morning  coffee  and  rolls  in  the  room, 
breakfast  at  noon,  and  dinner  without  wine,  which 
the  guest  is  expected  to  order  and  to  pay  for  extra, 
at  six  o’clock.  I found  the  hotels  in  Buenos  Aires 
the  most  reasonable  in  South  America  (except  one 
or  two  in  Montevideo),  considering  what  I re- 
ceived, but  I know  that  this  is  not  a general  opin- 
ion. Outside  of  the  hotels  tips  are,  of  course, 
received,  but  they  need  not  be  extravagant.  The 
currency  being  on  a silver  basis,  a dollar  seems  to 
go  a long  way  toward  satisfying  the  appetite  of 
servants.  The  currency  in  Buenos  Aires  is  alto- 
gether paper,  from  the  dollar  up,  and  silver  in 
fractions  thereof,  but  it  is  clean,  odorless  and  legi- 
ble, a pleasure  to  handle  and  universally  accepted 
without  question. 

The  banks  are  large  and  imposing,  full  of  busi- 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


56 

ness,  but  always  ready  and  obliging.  The  shops 
are  of  all  nationalities  and  commodities,  and  vary 
from  the  huge  department  store  to  the  tiny  door- 
way where  trinkets  are  sold.  All  languages  are 
spoken  and  every  want  is  easily  satisfied,  so  that 
the  stranger  finds  everything  he  may  desire, 
whether  it  is  information  or  statistics,  books  or 
automobiles. 

An  excellent  and  trustworthy  guide-book  is  pub- 
lished in  Spanish  ( Baedeker  de  la  Republica  Ar- 
gentina),  but  any  one  of  the  numerous  book-stores 
on  any  of  the  shopping  streets  will  furnish  hand- 
books in  English,  German  or  French,  not  very 
complete  perhaps,  but  eminently  usable,  either  free 
or  at  moderate  cost.  In  fact,  Buenos  Aires  is  so 
cosmopolitan  that  the  traveler  need  not  feel  a 
stranger  after  the  first  day.  No  one  should  miss 
visiting  the  docks  and  harbor  works,  the  water- 
supply  building,  the  zoological  garden,  or  fail  to 
stroll  along  Calle  Florida,  which  is  the  Bond  Street 
and  the  promenade  of  daily  life.  The  bustle  and 
activity  of  the  city  is  strikingly  American,  al- 
though the  atmosphere  is  European  (Little  Paris, 
the  natives  like  to  have  it  called),  but  English  is 
understood  almost  everywhere.  Spanish,  of  course, 
is  needed  in  the  country,  and  Italian  is  very  useful, 
but  English  is,  after  all,  the  mainstay.  Away  from 
the  capital,  good  accommodations  are  obtainable 
at  the  larger  cities,  such  as  Rosario,  Bahia  Blanca 
and  Cordova,  but  in  “camp”  it  is  well  to  provide 


BUENOS  AIRES 


57 


for  some  roughness  and  to  exercise  a cheerful 
spirit,  otherwise  much  of  the  pleasure  of  travel 
will  be  smothered  by  annoyance  at  the  lack  of 
what  is  termed  comforts  by  the  unhardy. 

It  bears  repetition  that  information  is  easy  to 
get,  but  that  on  occasions  it  must  be  corroborated 
by  those  well  informed  but  disinterested.  The 
newspapers  are  snappy,  cosmopolitan  and  vigor- 
ous, but  they  do  not  always  adhere  to  facts,  al- 
though they  bring  news  from  every  portion  of  the 
globe.  There  is  a Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  the  Calle  Mo- 
rena  452,  conducted  by  an  American  whose  influ- 
ence is  highly  beneficial,  where  valuable  items 
concerning  the  ins  and  outs  of  Argentine  life  can 
be  obtained.  Dun  and  Company  also  have  an 
agency  in  Buenos  Aires,  furnishing  commercial 
information  unequaled  by  anything  in  the  country. 

Buenos  Aires  is  one  of  the  best  photographed 
cities,  and  views  of  the  city  and  of  the  entire  repub- 
lic can  be  obtained  at  any  of  the  book-stores.  The 
picture  post-card  mania  is  quite  as  widespread  as 
it  is  with  us.  The  Amateur  Photographic  Club  is 
on  a par  with  those  in  London  and  New  York,  and 
developing  agencies  for  the  camera  enthusiast  are 
plentiful. 

It  is  worth  while  for  the  Yankee  to  study  the 
street-car  system  of  the  city  and  the  ramifications 
of  the  electric  trams.  He  will  find  the  cars  most 
convenient  and  comfortable,  with  remarkable  con- 
sideration for  the  passengers’  wants.  No  transfers 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


58 

are  given,  but  they  are  seldom  needed.  Day  and 
night  the  cars  ply  to  all  parts  of  the  city.  At  night 
they  are  specially  in  demand,  because  Buenos 
Aires  is  a city  of  gaiety  which  is  brightest  long 
after  the  sun  has  set. 

There  are  six  railway  stations  in  Buenos  Aires. 
To  leave  the  city  is  as  easy  as  to  leave  London.  To 
go,  for  instance,  to  Rosario,  one  has  the  choice  of 
four  routes — three  by  rail  and  one  by  river;  to  go 
to  Bahia  Blanca  there  are  both  rail  and  water 
routes;  and  to  any  portion  of  the  interior,  express 
or  local  trains  are  obtainable.  To  Misiones,  or  up 
the  Parana  toward  Paraguay,  the  river  is  the  only 
highway.  A railway  guide  is  published,  but  it  has 
little  circulation,  so  that  the  best  way  to  get  in- 
formation is  to  go  to  the  station  or  to  get  a circular 
from  the  railway  company. 

Travel  in  the  country  of  Argentina  is  either  a 
hardship  or  a luxurious  pleasure,  according  to  the 
purpose  for  which  it  is  taken.  If  the  trip  is  be- 
tween the  large  cities  only,  it  is  as  comfortable  as 
that  from  New  York  to  Chicago;  but  if  necessity 
demands  stop  and  stay  at  any  of  the  villages  of  the 
interior,  it  may  be  as  primitive  as  a journey  to  a 
way  station  on  a side  line  in  old  Mexico. 

VENEZUELA 

The  quickest  way  to  reach  Venezuela  is  by  the 
line  of  American  steamers  from  New  York  which 
touches  at  Puerto  Rico  and  Curasao  before  reach- 


LANDING  AT  LA  GUAYRA  59 


ing  La  Guayra;  the  pleasanter  route  is  by  the 
English  Royal  Mail,  which  zigzags  around  the 
Caribbean  Sea  for  ten  days  or  more,  touching  at 
forgotten  ports  of  the  Spanish  Main  before  it 
reaches  La  Guayra. 

La  Guayra  is  the  chief  shipping-point  for  Vene- 
zuela, and  the  one  best  known  to  Americans,  be- 
cause it  is  nearest  to  Caracas. 

The  Venezuelan  consul  in  New  York  demands 
that  a passport  be  shown  by  the  passenger  going  to 
Venezuela,  partly  that  the  government  may  keep 
out  filibusters,  who  make  of  her  a circus  in  which 
to  exercise  their  calling.  The  consul,  who  must  be 
visited  before  the  steamship  company  will  issue  a 
ticket,  then  grants  traveling  papers,  for  which  he 
must  be  paid  a fee  of  two  dollars. 

On  arriving  at  La  Guayra  the  steamer  ties  to  a 
stone  pier  built  by  an  English  company  which  is 
allowed  a charge  on  passengers  and  baggage  de- 
barking there.  The  steamer  may  not  tie  to  the 
wharf  before  seven  in  the  morning;  this  rule  is 
said  to  be  for  the  advantage  of  quarantine  and  cus- 
tom-house officers,  who  otherwise  would  be  on  duty 
before  sunrise  nearly  every  day.  The  quarantine 
examination  is  rather  severe,  but  is  patterned,  es- 
pecially in  some  of  its  details,  after  the  methods  in 
vogue  at  New  York  and  New  Orleans  in  the 
United  States,  and  in  Rio  Janeiro  in  Brazil,  with 
an  attempt  to  make  uniform  such  a system  in 
America.  Passengers  must  pay  two  bolivars  (38 


6o 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


cents)  for  transport  of  each  person  from  the  boat 
by  train  to  the  custom-house,  and  in  the  proportion 
of  two  bolivars  for  each  hundred  kilograms  of 
baggage  (about  fifty  pounds).  The  wharf  is  sure 
to  be  crowded  with  a motley  gang  of  native  whites 
and  resident  blacks  from  Jamaica,  who  scream  and 
push  one  another  in  their  attempts  to  secure  the 
privilege  of  carrying  baggage  and  of  looking  after 
the  passenger’s  welfare  until  he  is  seated  in  the 
train  for  Caracas.  It  is  wise  to  select  some  man 
recommended  by  the  purser  or  steward,  and  to  in- 
trust him  with  all  details,  after  taking  his  name. 
These  porters  are  usually  honest,  but  it  seems  a 
trustful  game,  with  the  advantage  all  on  the  other 
side,  to  deliver  oneself  and  one’s  precious  baggage 
to  an  unknown  black  dressed  in  flimsy  white.  I 
have  not  heard  of  any  losses  in  this  method,  and  it 
saves  lots  of  trouble  to  be  ciceroned  so  completely. 

The  customs  examination  is  politely  conducted 
and  is  usually  soon  over,  although  much  attention 
is  given  to  details,  because  the  government  is 
suspicious  of  the  importation  of  arms  or  other 
contraband  articles.  When  the  inspection  is  fin- 
ished, baggage  is  removed  by  the  carrier  to  the 
hotel,  if  the  passenger  is  unlucky  enough  to  be 
compelled  to  remain  in  La  Guayra,  or  to  the  train, 
which  is  at  the  station  a few  rods  away,  if  he  is  go- 
ing as  soon  as  he  can  to  Caracas.  Not  before  this 
should  he  pay  the  porter,  for  when  he  does  this  the 
fun  begins.  A huge  sum  will  always  be  demanded. 


LANDING  AT  LA  GUAYRA  61 


It  should  always  be  resisted  and  about  half  the  orig- 
inal sum  offered.  The  result  will  be  a compromise 
at  about  two-thirds,  or  probably  eight  bolivars  for 
the  completed  job,  which  has  included  transport 
of  baggage  from  the  steamer  to  the  custom-house 
(for  which  the  porter  pays  and  must  produce  his 
receipted  ticket),  the  arrangement  in  the  custom- 
house and  the  second  transport  to  the  seat  in  the 
train  leaving  La  Guayra.  I feel  sure  that  this  ex- 
planation will  not  help  much,  because  the  whole 
process  is  so  confused  that  even  those  who  have 
passed  through  the  trial  a dozen  times  do  not  al- 
ways come  out  with  unruffled  temper.  I have 
heard  the  dock  at  La  Guayra  cursed  and  criticized 
by  illogical  Yankees  who  failed  to  take  many 
things  into  consideration.  The  first  complaint  has 
been  the  delay  at  the  dock  by  which  the  passenger 
may  not  debark  before  seven,  the  complainant  for- 
getting that  many  a steamer  is  refused  entrance  into 
New  York  for  exactly  the  same  reason.  The  last 
complaint  is  that  the  routine  of  landing  and  clear- 
ing at  the  custom-house  takes  so  much  time  that  the 
passenger  is  sure  to  miss  the  first  train  leaving  for 
Caracas,  and  must  therefore  spend  the  hours  till 
three  in  the  afternoon  lounging  about  La  Guayra; 
and  that  he  must  go  to  a hotel  for  a meal,  thus  pay- 
ing tribute  to  the  keeper,  who  happens  to  be  related 
to  a cabinet  official,  and  so  on,  ad  nauseam.  The 
protestant  fails  to  remember  that  the  blame  does 
not  rest  upon  Venezuela  at  all,  but  upon  the  steam- 


62 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


ship  company,  which  is  American,  and  upon  the 
dock  company  and  the  railway  company,  which  are 
English;  and  that  if  these  three  companies  wished 
to  arrange  a schedule  a la  Liverpool,  they  could 
compel  the  dock  laborers  to  dress  suitably  and  with 
a numbered  tag;  they  could  have  officers  to  assist 
the  ignorant  passenger;  and  they  could  expedite 
matters  with  very  little  expense.  But  nobody  in 
Venezuela  is  in  a hurry.  Why  blame  the  govern- 
ment for  faults  that  are  entirely  those  of  foreign 
corporations?  Yet  if  comparisons  are  to  be  made  at 
all,  I confess  my  own  anger  was  more  fully  aroused 
on  returning  to  New  York  and  being  compelled  to 
undergo  an  inquisition  into  my  physical,  moral  and 
financial  state  which  stretched  my  patience  to  the 
utmost  and  reduced  me  to  untruths,  no  matter  how 
closely  I tried  to  adhere  to  facts. 

Arrival  in  Venezuela  is  outlandish  enough,  but 
a little  good  humor,  a little  submission  to  the  ways 
of  the  country,  and  perspicacity,  will  overcome  the 
confusion  and  place  the  blame,  if  there  is  any, 
where  it  belongs. 

Venezuela  is  really  on  a gold  basis,  although 
there  is  no  gold  in  circulation  within  the  country. 
The  unit  of  value  is  the  bolivar  (accent  on  the  mid- 
dle syllable),  worth  19.3  cents,  but  there  is  a slight 
premium  on  foreign  gold  or  drafts,  which  makes 
an  American  dollar  bring  about  five  bolivars  and 
a half  at  the  bank.  It  is  better  not  to  carry  any- 
thing but  a letter  of  credit,  because  foreign  cur- 


VENEZUELAN  MONEY 


63 


rency  is  not  so  readily  sold,  nor  does  it  bring  so 
much  for  its  face  value  as  a letter  of  credit  or  a 
certified  draft.  The  common  statement  of  price  is 
in  pesos;  a peso  means  a dollar,  but  the  stranger 
must  be  very  careful  to  inquire  what  that  dollar 
stands  for,  or  rather  he  must  assume  that  it  implies 
only  four  bolivars,  while  a peso  fuerte  is  five  boli- 
vars, equal,  for  all  purposes  of  ready  computation, 
to  our  dollar,  a simple  peso  being  equal  to  eighty 
cents.  Practically  all  the  currency  used  is  silver, 
though  bank-notes,  issued  by  the  banks  and  not  by 
the  government,  are  in  circulation.  Do  not  take 
bank-notes;  they  have  only  local  use  and  away 
from  their  place  of  origin — say  Caracas — must  be 
discounted.  The  silver  is  the  five-bolivar  piece, 
a good,  handsome  coin,  but  fifty  of  them  weigh 
considerable  in  a hot  climate.  The  bolivar  equals  2 
reales  equals  4 medios.  One  real  equals  2 medios 
equals  10  centavos.  One  centavo  equals  one  U.  S. 
cent  equals  5 centimos.  There  are  local  terms  for 
the  various  denominations,  unnecessary  to  give 
here. 

The  ticket  from  La  Guayra  to  Caracas  first- 
class  costs  fourteen  bolivars,  or  $2.50.  American 
money  will  be  taken  at  this  rate.  This  includes  a 
comfortable  amount  of  baggage,  but  an  excess  tax 
may  be  imposed.  The  checking  system  is  used. 
The  hotels  in  La  Guayra  are  generally  poor,  such 
as  might  be  expected  from  a tropical  seaport,  but 
the  meals  are  good.  There  is  nothing  to  see  here, 


64 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


but  if  the  traveler  is  confined  over  night  away  from 
Caracas,  it  is  worth  his  time  to  go  three  miles  to  the 
east  of  La  Guayra,  by  carriage  or  train,  to  Macuto, 
where  he  will  find  one  of  the  most  beautiful  spots 
on  earth,  and  a simple  little  out-of-door  hotel,  as 
clean  and  comfortable,  and  with  as  good  meals,  as 
any  traveler  could  wish. 

The  ride  to  Caracas  is  most  interesting,  and  takes 
two  hours  for  the  twenty-two  miles  of  rail.  On 
arrival  in  the  capital  at  the  pleasant,  clean,  little 
station,  one  may  take  a street-car  to  the  center  of 
the  city,  but  the  better  plan  is  to  bargain  for  a car- 
riage, unless  the  hotel  runner,  who  probably  has 
been  met  at  the  dock  or  in  the  train,  already  agrees 
to  do  this;  he  may  be  trusted.  Caracas  has  several 
hotels,  all  of  them  on  the  Spanish  tropical  order, 
charging  so  much  a day  (be  sure  to  bargain  in  ad- 
vance), from  ten  to  sixteen  bolivars,  which  in- 
cludes morning  coffee,  rolls  with  butter  and  cheese, 
a hearty  breakfast  at  noon,  and  a fine  dinner  at 
night.  The  rooms  are  usually  large  and  well  venti- 
lated unless  on  a court,  but  the  bath-room  is  prob- 
ably at  a distance,  and  not  always  to  be  used,  as 
running  water  may  not  be  turned  on  till  late  in  the 
morning.  Service  may  be  performed  by  either  a 
man  or  a woman  who  comes  and  goes  at  all  hours 
of  the  day  or  night,  and  is  summoned  by  a loud 
cry  in  the  corridor.  The  bells  seldom  ring  and  it 
is  easier  to  shout;  when  this  is  continued  long 
enough,  a servant  is  sure  to  come  good-naturedly. 


A South  American  Belle 


In  the  Suburbs — Caracas 


Vargas  Hospital — Caracas 


SIGHT-SEEING  IN  CARACAS  65 


You  can  not  make  a Venezolano  angry  except  by 
absolute  and  unmistakable  rudeness.  Tips  are  a 
modest  source  of  income  to  the  serving  class,  and  a 
few  centavos  well  distributed  bring  here  a greater 
reward  than  two  dollars  in  New  York.  A kind 
word  is  the  coin  of  thankfulness  in  Venezuela. 

To  go  to  the  bank  in  Caracas  is  half  a day’s 
work;  all  banks  are  owned  and  managed  by  na- 
tives, but  some  employee  will  be  sure  to  speak 
English.  No  British  bank  has  a branch  in  Venez- 
uela. It  is  advisable  to  have  a bag  or  a small 
satchel  for  the  silver  dollars. 

The  traveler  can  find  many  sights  worth  visiting 
in  Caracas,  and  he  will  have  plenty  of  leisure,  as 
nothing  is  done  in  a day  here.  The  House  of  Con- 
gress with  its  courtyard  is  on  the  road  to  every- 
where, but  its  interior  must  not  be  omitted,  for  the 
mural  decorations  and  frescoes  are  fine,  and  illus- 
trate many  events  in  the  nation’s  history.  Mira- 
flores,  the  president’s  home,  is  open  to  guests  at 
stated  hours.  The  cathedral,  at  the  corner  of  Boli- 
var Square,  is  unavoidable.  The  Panteon,  to  the 
north  of  the  city,  contains  the  remains  of  Bolivar 
and  Miranda,  with  other  heroes,  and  many  relics. 
The  Vargas  Hospital  is  one  of  the  best  in  Amer- 
ica, but  foreigners  seldom  visit  it.  The  hill  of 
Calvario  offers  an  extensive  view  of  the  city  from 
within  its  own  confines.  The  academy  of  Bellas 
Artes  has  some  splendid  specimens  of  native  art, 
among  them  the  pictures  of  Michelena,  who  de- 


66 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


served  and  obtained  international  reputation.  The 
municipal  opera-house  is  large  and  well  ap- 
pointed; the  national  theater  is  more  modern. 
Much  of  the  decoration  is  native  work  and  much 
of  the  material  came  from  native  sources.  Caracas 
is  inadequately  photographed,  although  every  turn 
gives  a varied  picture,  but  postal  cards  can  be  ob- 
tained with  good  views,  and  the  amateur  can  have 
his  plates  or  films  well  developed  in  the  city. 

The  shops  offer  little  of  value  to  the  collector, 
who  must  content  himself  with  native  trinkets  or 
imported  ornaments.  Even  the  needs  of  daily  life 
are  not  always  obtainable  in  the  character  desired 
by  the  stranger,  because  the  country  is  so  impover- 
ished that  comforts  have  become  luxuries.  Living 
is  cheap,  however,  compared  to  New  York  or  Rio, 
and  the  cost  of  simple  things  is  low.  Flowers  are 
ridiculously  abundant  and  inexpensive,  and  at  the 
flower  market,  early  in  the  morning  Sundays  and 
Thursdays,  a basketful  costs  a trifle. 

Information  about  most  things  is  hard  to  get, 
but  there  is  little  that  needs  study  or  investigation. 
The  government  prints  some  statistical  matter,  but 
all  else  is  carried  by  word  of  mouth.  The  news- 
papers are  good  reading,  but  they  might  as  well 
be  last  month’s  papers;  they  have  no  news  beyond 
the  meager  foreign  items  and  are  devoid  of  criti- 
cism, because  freedom  of  speech  is  at  present  im- 
possible. 

The  mere  sight-seer  can  never  be  sated  by  the 


IN  VENEZUELA  67 

human  interests  in  Caracas  nor  by  the  wonderful 
beauty  of  the  city’s  surroundings.  A pleasant  trip 
may  be  made  to  Antimano  and  El  Encanto,  or  to 
El  Encantado,  short  distances  from  Caracas.  If 
the  traveler  goes  to  Valencia  he  will  see  on  the  way 
some  scenery  not  surpassed  by  Italy.  The  German 
railway  now  departs  from  the  same  station  in 
which  the  English  railway  ends.  One  train  a day 
goes  as  far  as  Valencia,  and  has  good  cars.  At 
Valencia  connection  is  made  with  another  English 
railway  for  Puerto  Cabello.  To  reach  any  other 
part  of  Venezuela  from  Caracas,  the  traveler  must 
depend  upon  a coasting  steamer  or  one  of  the  over- 
sea boats  calling  at  La  Guayra.  He  might  of  course 
go  overland,  but  even  if  the  actual  distance  be 
shorter,  it  will  require  days  of  preparation  and 
special  arrangements  for  horses,  guides,  provisions, 
as  it  did  in  Spain  sixty  years  ago;  or  else  he  must 
make  use  of  the  infrequent  diligences  which  ply 
between  towns  in  the  interior.  Information  about 
these  can  be  obtained  only  on  the  spot. 

THE  SOUTH  PACIFIC 

On  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  the  old  Spanish  civi- 
lization is  fast  disappearing.  Colon  is  becoming  a 
modern  American  shipping  point,  hygienically  and 
romantically  unrecognizable  by  the  traveler  who 
might  have  known  the  place  even  as  late  as  five 
years  ago.  The  railway  is  interesting  for  what  has 


68 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


been  accomplished  by  it,  but  the  canal,  in  the  ele- 
ments visible  to  the  physical  eye,  is  chiefly  a stimu- 
lant to  the  imaginative  eye  which  can  see  the 
completion  of  the  work,  when  living  will  be  unbe- 
set by  danger  from  disease,  when  mighty  ships  will 
parade  through  from  Atlantic  to  Pacific,  and  when 
the  Chagres  River,  tamed  and  harnessed,  develops 
an  electric  power  to  do  all  the  work,  both  industrial 
and  domestic,  over  the  fifty  miles  of  strip  called  the 
Canal  Zone. 

In  the  city  of  Panama,  there  are  still  traces  of 
Castilian  settlement;  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  old 
cathedral,  and  the  ruins  of  the  original  city  five 
miles  down  the  bay,  will  be  preserved  for  the 
sight-seer  to  realize  what  has  been  displaced. 

It  is  only  when  finally  afloat  on  the  broad  Pacific 
that  the  traveler  feels  that  he  is  coming  in  touch 
with  the  true  spirit  of  Latin  America.  The  farther 
south  one  travels,  the  less  does  one  notice  northern 
influence  and  the  more  intrusive  becomes  the  ac- 
tivity of  England,  Germany  and  Europe  generally. 
The  steamers  from  Panama  are  provided  with  all 
the  comforts  needed  in  the  tropics,  but  there  is  not 
sufficient  commerce  to  justify  through  routes,  and 
consequently  the  journey  is  pleasantly  delayed  by 
frequent  stops  at  small  and  unknown  ports,  from 
which  are  nourished  the  adjacent  areas,  and  to 
which  the  steamers  bring  both  supplies  and  gossip 
from  the  outside  world.  This  is  really  an  advantage 
for  the  traveler,  since  it  permits  of  a closer  ac- 


IN  COLOMBIA 


69 


quaintance  with  the  peoples  and  their  civilization. 
It  keeps  him  within  sight  of  land  with  the  rich 
greens  along  the  coast,  and  much  of  the  time  within 
sight  also  of  the  Andes,  towering  toward  the  east 
as  a lofty  barrier  some  day  to  be  penetrated  by  the 
ingenuity  of  man,  so  that  the  rich  valleys  of  the 
interior  can  be  brought  into  use  and  commercially 
within  the  sphere  of  the  Canal. 

Colombia  is  the  northernmost  republic  on  the 
Pacific  side,  and  the  only  one  touching  the  Atlantic 
waters  as  well.  Its  area  is  465,714  square  miles, 
nearly  twice  as  large  as  Texas,  but  climatically,  al- 
though all  within  the  tropics,  the  habitable  or 
agricultural  portion  is  temperate,  about  like  Ten- 
nessee in  October. 

The  population  is  estimated  at  4,000,000,  of 
which  only  a small  proportion  is  of  pure  blood. 
The  railway  extension  is  at  the  most  but  400  miles, 
all  narrow  gage,  and  owned  chiefly  by  English  in- 
vestors. The  official  monetary  standard  is  the  gold 
condor,  worth  $9.65,  which  equals  ten  pesos  (dol- 
lars), and  this  peso  is  the  common  circulating 
medium,  but  it  does  not  always  have  its  par  value, 
and  paper  money,  circulating  side  by  side  with 
silver,  is  subject  to  fluctuations.  The  army  has  a 
minimum  strength  of  1,000  men.  The  external 
debt,  held  in  England,  is  $15,000,000. 

Only  one  port  in  Colombia,  Buenaventura  (Tu- 
maco  is  occasionally  visited)  needs  mention;  from 
it  the  capital,  Bogota,  at  an  altitude  of  8,500  feet, 


70 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


may  some  day  be  reached  by  rail,  but  at  present 
there  is  no  commercial  demand  for  it,  so  that 
mountain  trail  and  mule  remain  the  only  means  of 
communication. 

The  first  stop  of  importance  at  which  there  is 
true  international  interchange,  is  at  Guayaquil,  in 
the  next  republic  to  the  south. 

Ecuador,  twice  as  large  as  Illinois,  has  an  area 
of  1 16,000  square  miles  also  completely  within  the 
tropics,  but  equally  with  Colombia  blessed  by  a 
climate  in  the  elevated  region,  so  healthful  that 
life  becomes  a pastime  instead  of  a struggle.  The 
population  is  1,200,000,  with  200,000  Indians. 
Two  hundred  miles  of  railway  have  been  con- 
structed, and  the  work  on  this  industry,  sometimes 
under  way,  sometimes  stopped,  complicates  the 
problem  and  the  amount  of  the  external  debt, 
which  is  $5,000,000,  guaranteeing,  and  guaranteed 
by,  the  railway  from  Guayaquil  to  Quito.  The  in- 
ternal debt  is  $2,500,000.  The  official  standard  is 
the  gold  condor,  equal  to  the  English  sovereign,  or 
to  $4.86  U.  S.  gold;  the  condor  has  ten  sucres  (48 
cents  each),  and  these,  in  silver,  are  the  chief  cir- 
culating medium.  The  army  has  a peace  footing 
of  5,000  men. 

Guayaquil  lies  south  of  the  equator,  842  miles  * 
from  Panama,  within  the  gulf  of  the  same  name 

* I use  in  all  the  distances  given  for  the  west  coast  the  chart  of 
nautical  miles  from  the  tables  of  the  Hydrographic  Office  of  the 
United  States  Navy. 


ECUADOR 


7i 


and  on  the  River  Guayas.  The  population  is 
50,000,  the  second  largest  in  the  republic,  and  of 
greatest  commercial  importance.  Through  it 
passes  90  per  cent,  of  the  trade  of  Ecuador,  about 
$7,500,000  of  imports  and  $10,000,000  of  exports, 
annually,  the  latter  consisting  largely  of  cacao,  rub- 
ber, coffee  and  Panama  hats.  The  United  States, 
France,  Germany  and  England  share  this  trade, 
France  having  the  largest  share. 

From  Guayaquil,  or,  more  accurately  speaking, 
from  Duran  across  the  bay,  the  railway  starts  to- 
ward Quito;  it  is  completed  for  a distance  of  140 
miles  and  will  soon  enter  the  city,  since  the  road- 
bed for  the  remaining  120  miles  is  already  leveled. 
The  company  is  American,  incorporated  under  the 
laws  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  and  should  be 
commended  for  having  overcome  as  great  engi- 
neering difficulties  as  can  be  met  in  South  America. 

Quito  is  on  the  equator,  9,600  feet  above  sea 
level,  surrounded  by  a host  of  snow-capped  moun- 
tains rising  to  twice  this  height.  It  has  a population 
of  70,000,  with  a cultured  aristocracy  and  an  in- 
dustrious native  Indian  working  class.  The  busi- 
ness is  largely  in  the  hands  of  English  and  German 
firms. 

On  reaching  Tumbez  on  the  frontier,  where 
Pizarro  began  his  adventurous  conquest  of  the  In- 
cas, the  traveler  is  within  the  confines  of  Peru. 

Peru  has  695,700  square  miles,  thirty-one  times 
as  large  as  Maine,  and  a population  of  6,600,000; 


72 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


in  1876  only  13.8  per  cent,  of  the  population  were 
white,  and  this  proportion  has  not  altered  much 
within  the  generation.  The  external  debt  was  ex- 
changed in  1890  for  a monopoly  concession  to  the 
Peruvian  Corporation  (English),  which  took  over 
the  state  railways,  certain  mines  and  lands,  and 
privileges  of  export;  the  amount  was  then  esti- 
mated at  $110,000,000;  Chile  has  an  interest  also, 
as  she  wishes  Bolivia  to  advance  with  Peru.  Alto- 
gether there  are  1,400  miles  of  railway,  standard 
gage,  in  Peru.  The  army  has  an  enlistment  of  5,000 
men;  the  navy  a displacement  of  5,000  tons;  small, 
it  will  appear,  against  the  strength  of  Chile.  The 
monetary  standard  is  the  gold  libra  equal  to  the 
English  sovereign  ($4.86),  and  it  contains  ten  sols, 
the  silver  sol  passing  for  forty-eight  cents. 

A stop  is  made  at  Payta,  once  a Yankee  whaling 
rendezvous,  now  the  terminus  of  a railway  running 
sixty  miles  into  the  interior  to  tap  the  petroleum 
beds  and  the  fertile  cotton  valleys,  destined  to  be- 
come the  north  Peruvian  port  for  the  future  com- 
merce of  the  Amazon  region  toward  the  Pacific. 
Then  past  Eten  and  Pacasmayo,  whence  begins  an 
historic  trail  to  the  Amazon  through  Cajamarca, 
once  famous  as  an  Inca  residence;  then  Salaverry, 
the  port  for  Trujillo,  another  Inca  city;  then 
Chimbote,  half-way  between  Panama  and  Val- 
paraiso, a small  port  to-day,  but  destined  to  become 
great,  because  of  its  excellent  harbor  that  offers 
outlet  to  the  fertile  country  and  the  rich  coal  and 


PERU— LIMA 


73 


mineral  deposits  tapped  by  the  incipient  railway; 
and  at  last  comes  Callao — Kalio,  as  skippers  say — 
the  greatest  port  of  Peru,  with  piers  and  wharves, 
landing  stage  and  a mole.  It  is  a pretty  place  with 
30,000  inhabitants,  embowered  in  tropical  trees 
and  protected  by  the  island  of  San  Lorenzo.  There 
are  plazas  and  statues,  churches  and  beggars,  truly 
a la  Espagne.  Here  England  leads  in  the  shipping, 
United  States  next,  Germany  third  and  Chile  a bad 
fourth.  Callao  has  a foreign  commerce  of  one-half 
of  Peru’s  total  of  $40,000,000,  and  is  the  landing- 
place  for  the  city  of  Lima,  only  eight  miles  inland 
and  five  hundred  feet  in  the  air,  the  two  being 
connected  by  trolley  and  steam-cars,  constantly  on 
the  go. 

Lima  is  in  every  sense  of  the  word  the  capital  of 
Peru.  It  was  the  home  of  Pizarro  and  the  Inquisi- 
tion, of  the  viceroys  who  ruled  South  America 
from  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  to  Panama;  it  was  the 
stronghold  of  the  church  with  a hundred  domiciles 
for  the  faithful.  Lima  has  endured  earthquakes 
and  floods,  autos-da-fe  and  bull-fights,  but  the  lot- 
tery and  horse  race  are  displacing  the  earlier 
sports,  while  a generous  spirit  is  exchanged  for  the 
illiberality  of  former  years.  Life  in  Lima  is  conse- 
quently becoming  up  to  date,  and  society  is  quite 
cosmopolitan.  Italians,  Germans,  French,  English 
and  Scotch  mingle  in  harmony  with  the  old  Cas- 
tilian aristocracy,  and  a leaven  is  working  from  all 
sides.  Intellectually  Lima  ranks  higher  than 


74 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


Buenos  Aires,  but  the  industrial  activity  of  the  city 
has  not  kept  pace  with  her  Atlantic  sister.  Never- 
theless, the  public-service  functions  promise  soon 
to  become  equal  to  those  of  any  modern  city,  so 
that  water,  electric  traction  and  scientific  hygiene 
will  destroy  the  bad  reputation  Lima  once  had,  and 
give  her  credit  for  being  healthful,  to  which  cli- 
mate and  natural  advantages  entitle  her.  In  Lima 
the  American  colony  is  small,  but  the  name  Amer- 
ican or  Yankee  will  be  for  ever  reverenced  on  ac- 
count of  the  miracle  of  engineering  performed  by 
the  Californian,  Henry  Meiggs.  He  it  was  who 
planned  and  built  the  Southern  Railway  from 
Mollendo  to  Lake  Titicaca,  and  also  the  still  more 
famous  line  running  up  the  mountain  from  Callao, 
i Bo  miles  to  Oroya,  rising  at  one  point  to  an  eleva- 
tion of  15,665  feet.  The  traveler  must  not  forego 
the  chance  to  see  this  road,  nor  should  the  student 
forget  that  at  Junin,  farther  along,  Bolivar  gained 
his  great  victory  over  the  Spaniards  on  August 
sixth,  1824,  leaving  to  Sucre  to  strike  the  very  last 
and  decisive  blow  on  December  twenty-fourth, 
1824,  at  Ayacucho,  to  the  south. 

The  railways  are  at  present  all  owned  by  English 
companies  and  show  the  defects  of  management 
from  a board  of  directors  sitting  in  London,  but 
Yankee  enterprise  is  by  no  means  absent,  and  much 
good  American  money  ($25,000,000)  is  finding  in- 
vestment in  Peru,  to  show  that  others  since  Meiggs 
have  grasped  their  opportunities.  There  are  Amer- 


MOLLENDO 


75 


ican  silver  miners,  copper  miners,  and  contractors 
for  the  newer  railways,  so  that  they  run  the  English 
a close  second  in  the  amount  of  capital  invested, 
while  they  always  furnish  an  object-lesson  in  en- 
ergy. It  is  one  of  the  few  sections  below  the  equator 
where  we  at  present  seem  to  hold  equal  rating  with 
Europe. 

From  Callao  the  steamer  carries  the  traveler  into 
and  past  several  small  roadsteads  scarcely  to  be 
dignified  by  the  name  of  harbors;  then  to  Pisco,  a 
charming  and  active  place  shut  off  from  the  rest 
of  the  world  except  by  sea  and  a local  railway  run- 
ning forty  miles  eastward  to  lea.  The  next  impor- 
tant stop  is  Mollendo.  The  steamer  does  not  really 
stop;  it  merely  anchors  till  passengers  and  freight 
are  landed;  there  is  no  such  thing  as  stopping  in 
this  restless,  tossing  sea;  freight  goes  in  on  lighters, 
passengers  offer  a prayer,  shut  their  eyes,  are  seized 
by  the  expert  boatmen  alongside,  get  a ducking 
from  the  breakers,  become  hypnotized  and  finally 
reach  land,  unable  to  explain  how  they  escaped  a 
watery  death.  Some  day  a pier  will  be  built,  or  the 
bay  of  Islay  around  the  corner  will  be  used. 

Mollendo  is  chiefly  of  interest  because  it  serves 
as  the  custom-house  for  the  commerce  into  Bolivia, 
and  because  here  begins  the  railway  which  connects 
the  salt  water  with  the  world’s  highest  fresh  water 
sea,  Lake  Titicaca.  Arequipa,  106  miles  northeast 
and  7,500  feet  in  the  air,  is  the  point  of  greatest 
interest  on  the  line;  the  city  has  35,000  inhabitants 


76 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


and  is  the  center  for  southern  Peru.  Americans  are 
active  here,  having  large  investments  in  mines, 
rubber  and  wool,  and  on  Mount  Misti,  near-by,  is 
situated  the  Harvard  Astronomical  Observatory. 
From  Arequipa,  over  an  elevation  of  14,660  feet, 
the  railway  runs  224  miles  to  Juliaca;  from  Juli- 
aca  100  miles  farther  are  built  northward  to  Chec- 
cacupe,  its  present  destination  being  Cuzco,  the 
ancient  capital  of  the  Incas — the  prehistoric  city 
of  South  America.  This  railway  will  be  one  of  the 
main  links  between  Buenos  Aires  and  Lima  in  the 
great  Pan-American  system.  From  Juliaca  it  is 
only  a short  distance  southward  to  Puno,  on  Lake 
Titicaca,  12,645  feet  above  the  sea.  From  Guaqui, 
on  the  lake,  a railway  will  carry  the  traveler  to 
La  Paz,  the  capital  of  Bolivia. 

Bolivia  has  an  area  of  729,000  square  miles, 
about  as  large  as  the  Mexican  cession  of  1848.  Its 
population  is  over  2,150,000,  but  50  per  cent,  of 
this  is  pure  Indian.  The  external  debt  of  $4,000,- 
000  was  taken  over  by  Chile  in  1899,  but  the  obli- 
gation to  pay  for  it  is  not  thereby  escaped;  yet 
Bolivia  is  rich,  progressive  and  even  industrious, 
and  this  contract  should  be  no  burden  upon  her 
finances.  By  a law  of  September,  1906,  Bolivia 
has  adopted  the  gold  standard,  making  the  boli- 
viano equal  to  the  English  sovereign  ($4.86)  and 
the  peso,  one-fifth  thereof,  practically  equivalent 
to  an  American  dollar.  There  are  in  operation  750 
miles  of  railway,  but  projected  or  in  construction 


BOLIVIA— CHILE 


77 


are  2,700  more  miles,  which,  when  finished,  will 
bring  these  highlands  of  the  tropics  within  touch 
of  the  world  from  which  she  has  been  so  long  shut 
off.  The  standing  army  is  2,890  men,  while  a 
fighting  force  of  82,000  may  be  mustered. 

Bolivia  has  no  seaport  since  the  war  in  1879- 
1884  between  Chile,  Bolivia  and  Peru;  its  indus- 
trial riches  are  and  always  will  be  derived  from 
minerals,  but  there  are  agricultural  possibilities 
only  waiting  to  be  developed  by  immigration  for 
settlement  and  by  brains  for  railway  building. 

Arica,  a day’s  journey  from  Mollendo,  is  the 
northern  port  of  Chile,  and  once  belonged  to  Bo- 
livia; it  may  be  returned  to  the  original  possessor, 
but  the  future  is  too  uncertain  to  permit  of  guesses 
on  this  point. 

Chile,  with  320,620  square  miles,  about  twice 
the  size  of  California,  with  which  it  may  be  geo- 
graphically compared,  has  a population  of  3,206,- 
000,  and  is  by  far  the  most  progressive  and  ambi- 
tious republic  on  the  Pacific.  Her  external  debt  is 
$80,000,000,  but  there  is  a large  internal  debt  of 
$30,000,000  also  held  abroad.  The  standard  coin 
is  the  peso  of  36^2  cents,  thirteen  and  one-third  of 
which  make  an  English  sovereign,  and  twenty  a 
condor,  worth  $7. 30  U.  S.  gold.  The  army  is  of- 
ficially 5,000  men,  but  obligatory  service  can  bring 
it  to  a greater  strength  at  any  time.  The  navy  has 
a tonnage  of  40,000,  which  is  increasing,  as  the 
Chileans  are  fond  of  the  sea  and  of  their  navy. 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


78 

There  are  2,875  miles  of  railway,  of  which  1,422 
are  government  owned  and  managed,  not  at  all  to 
the  discredit  but  rather  to  the  advantage  of  the 
people  and  to  the  credit  of  the  officials  and  en- 
gineers operating  them. 

Arica  is  an  earthquake  town,  well-known  in 
the  annals  of  the  United  States  Navy  as  the  place 
where  the  Wateree  was  carried  a mile  ashore  by  a 
tidal  wave  in  1868.  Its  commerce  is  chiefly  for 
Bolivia,  and  will  largely  increase  when  the  rail- 
way, one  of  the  first  in  South  America,  by  the 
way,  up  to  Tacna,  is  completed  300  miles  farther 
to  La  Paz.  Then  comes  Pisaqua  and  Iquiqui,  the 
nitrate  centers,  now  under  the  rule  of  the  Chilian 
government.  Iquiqui  is  1,999  miles  from  Panama, 
practically  half-way  to  Punta  Arenas  in  the  Straits 
of  Magellan,  and  at  Iquiqui  the  tide  of  commerce 
may  go  either  way — through  the  Canal  or  around 
the  Horn.  Yankee  interests  must  be  more  active  if 
we  are  to  take  our  natural  share  of  the  increasing 
life  of  this  southern  area. 

Antofagasta,  on  the  Tropic  of  Capricorn,  exactly 
opposite  Sao  Paulo  and  Santos  in  Brazil,  is  the 
next  important  port,  although  it  is  an  open  road- 
stead, frightful  to  the  traveler  and  expensive  to  the 
shipper,  but  it  is  the  terminus  of  a narrow-gage 
railway  running  575  miles  into  the  interior,  to  tap 
the  mineral  wealth  of  Bolivia. 

Caldera  is  another  stop  of  romantic  interest  to 
Americans,  for  it  is  destined  to  become  an  outlet 


Military  College — Chile 


House  of  Congress — Santiago 


VALPARAISO 


79 


to  the  Pacific  from  northern  Argentina,  a transan- 
dean  dream  of  Wheelright,  the  Yankee  who  pro- 
jected the  first  railway  from  the  shores  of  the  Rio 
de  la  Plata. 

Next  come  Huasco,  then  Coquimbo,  ports  for 
the  Chilian  mining  output,  and  at  last,  twenty- 
three  days  out  from  Panama,  almost  three  thousand 
miles  due  south  of  Caracas,  is  Valparaiso,  the 
greatest  shipping  point  in  Chile  and  the  largest 
Pacific  market  in  South  America.  Valparaiso — 
Paradise  Valley — is  said  to  equal  the  Bay  of  Na- 
ples. It  is  not  so  magnificent  nor  so  harmoniously 
beautiful  as  Rio  de  Janeiro’s  bay,  nor  has  it  the 
expanse  or  protection  of  San  Francisco’s;  at  best 
it  must  be  only  an  artificial  harbor.  But  description 
and  comparison  should  be  omitted  here,  because 
the  disastrous  earthquake  of  1906  destroyed  much 
of  the  city,  and  probably  in  the  rebuilding  the  har- 
bor facilities  will  also  be  improved.  The  popula- 
tion is  150,000,  cosmopolitan,  active  and  represen- 
tative of  the  life  of  Chile.  To  complete  the  picture, 
however,  the  traveler  must  go  to  Santiago,  with 
its  300,000  inhabitants,  the  official  capital  of  the 
country,  eighty-eight  miles  eastward  among  the 
mountains. 

From  Valparaiso  it  is  possible  during  their  sum- 
mer months  to  cross  over  the  Andes  to  Buenos  Aires 
on  the  Atlantic,  in  forty-eight  hours,  all  by  railway 
excepting  thirty-two  miles  in  the  highest  pass, 
which,  at  this  writing,  are  still  negotiated  by  mule 


8o 


A TRAVELER’S  NOTES 


and  diligence;  but  it  is  expected  that  the  railway 
will  span  the  Andes  within  a short  time. 

The  traveler  will  notice  that  for  almost  all  pur- 
poses of  sight-seeing  it  is  seldom  necessary  to  go  a 
day’s  journey  beyond  salt  water.  The  greatest  cen- 
ters of  commercial  and  social  interest  are  either 
seaports  or  cities  which  have,  for  climatic  reasons, 
developed  within  close  touch  of  them. 

It  should  not  be  doubted  but  that  some  day  the 
projected  Pan-American  Railway  will  be  com- 
pleted, connecting  New  York  with  Buenos  Aires 
overland,  but  it  may  be  questioned  whether  any  one 
will  have  the  endurance  to  make  the  trip.  Its  chief 
service  will  be  to  offer,  between  intermediate 
points,  quicker  transit  than  can  to-day  be  obtained 
by  steamer.  Therefore  the  tourist  must  study  the 
coast-line  well,  in  order  to  comprehend  the  rela- 
tionship of  the  several  countries  to  one  another. 

An  ocean  path  must  be  taken  to  arrive  at  any 
one  of  the  three  great  divisions  of  the  continent: 

The  Atlantic  republics,  Brazil,  Uruguay,  Ar- 
gentina (Paraguay). 

The  Pacific  republics,  Ecuador,  Peru,  Bolivia, 
Chile. 

The  Caribbean  republics,  Venezuela,  Colombia. 

I have  added  itineraries,  by  means  of  which  any 
place  may  be  visited.  For  the  Amazon  territory, 
as  far  as  Manaos,  in  Brazil  and  beyond,  to  Iquitos, 
in  Peru,  the  Booth  Line  of  steamers  from  New 
York. 


STEAMER  ROUTES 


81 


For  Recife  (Pernambuco),  Sao  Salvador  (Ba- 
hia), Rio  de  Janeiro,  Santos,  Montevideo  and 
Buenos  Aires  from  New  York,  the  direct  route  is 
by  the  Lamport  and  Holt  Line,  the  Prince  Line 
(both  English),  the  Sloman  Line  (German),  to 
Rio  in  eighteen  days,  with  transhipment  for  the 
more  southern  ports.  The  fare  to  Rio  is  $150,  to 
Santos  $160,  somewhat  less  to  the  nearer  ports,  and 
$190  to  Buenos  Aires,  with  privilege  of  using  Eng- 
lish or  French  steamers  below  Rio. 

The  indirect  route  is  by  steamer  to  Southampton, 
England,  thence  by  weekly  boat  to  Recife  and  be- 
yond. A through  first-class  ticket  by  the  American 
Line  to  Southampton,  thence  by  the  Royal  Mail 
Steam  Packet  Company,  can  be  purchased  for 
$195  to  Rio,  and  $215  to  Buenos  Aires. 

For  La  Guayra,  Venezuela,  the  “Red  D”  Line 
has  a steamer  sailing  every  two  weeks,  touching  at 
San  Juan,  Porto  Rico  and  at  Curasao,  to  arrive 
at  La  Guayra  on  the  eighth  day.  The  fare  is  $80. 
The  “Royal  Mail”  has  a fortnightly  service  from 
New  York,  through  Jamaica,  Colon,  Cartagena 
(Colombia),  to  La  Guayra  in  fourteen  days.  Fare, 
$80.  For  other  ports  on  the  Caribbean  Sea  it  is 
best  to  take  a steamer  to  La  Guayra,  Colon  or  Bar- 
badoes,  and  there  to  tranship  to  steamers  plying 
locally  along  the  coast,  although  there  are  occasion- 
ally direct  freight  vessels  to  most  of  them.  The 
United  Fruit  Company’s  steamers  reach  some  of 
the  local  harbors.  At  Jamaica  it  will  be  possible 


82 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


to  catch  a boat  to  almost  any  place,  but  sailings 
can  be  ascertained  only  a few  days  in  advance,  and 
the  traveler  is  advised  to  have  plenty  of  time, 
money  and  patience  for  the  unavoidable  but  pleas- 
ant delays. 

For  Cartagena,  Colombia,  the  Royal  Mail  or 
the  Hamburg-American  (Atlas)  Lines,  including 
Savanilla  and  Baranquilla,  whence  depart  the 
mails  for  Bogota  up  the  Magdalena  River,  offer 
a regular  service. 

For  the  South  Pacific,  the  only  gateway  is  across 
the  Isthmus.  (Panama)  Colon  may  be  reached 
from  New  Orleans,  but  I would  not  advise  the 
traveler  to  select  that  route ; or  from  San  Francisco, 
but  the  journey  in  the  coast-wise  steamers  of  the 
Pacific  Mail  takes  three  weeks.  The  best  route  is 
by  the  Panama  Railroad  Steamship  Company,  or 
the  Royal  Mail,  in  eight  days  for  $80,  including 
railway  fare  across  the  Isthmus.  At  Panama  be- 
gins the  trip  on  the  Pacific  Steam  Navigation  Com- 
pany, or  the  Compania  Sud  Americana  de  Vapores, 
offering  between  them  a weekly  service.  The  jour- 
ney consumes  three  weeks  from  Panama,  stopping 
— as  has  been  mentioned — at  intermediate  ports,  to 
Valparaiso.  Fare  (from  Panama),  $175. 

Specific  information  concerning  these  routes 
may  be  obtained  from  the  New  York  office  of  any 
of  these  steamship  companies. 

There  remains  only  the  connecting  link  between 
Buenos  Aires  and  Valparaiso.  The  South  Ameri- 


AROUND  THE  CAPE 


83 


can  Continent  may  be  circumnavigated  around 
Cape  Horn  on  the  Pacific  Steam  Navigation  Com- 
pany’s steamers,  the  journey  lasting  ten  to  fourteen 
days,  and  costing  $100;  or  the  Andes  may  be 
crossed  on  the  Buenos  Aires  and  Pacific  Railway 
to  Las  Cuevas  in  Argentina,  on  mule  and  diligence 
to  Juncal  in  Chile,  in  forty-eight  hours,  at  the  cost 
of  $75,  including  sleeping  berth  and  meals.  This 
route  is  open  only  from  October  to  June. 

Thus  a grand  tour  may  be  arranged  from  New 
York  to  Buenos  Aires,  around  or  across  to  Val- 
paraiso, up  to  Panama  and  through  the  Caribbean 
Sea  to  New  York,  15,000  miles  for  $750.  It  might 
be  added  that  there  is  no  way  to  get  to  Rio  de 
Janeiro  from  Caracas — that  is,  no  civilized  way, 
except  to  travel  across  the  Atlantic  to  England,  or 
up  to  New  York.  But  one  can  come  from  Rio  de 
Janeiro  to  Caracas  much  more  quickly,  because 
all  Brazil  steamers  stop,  north  bound,  at  the  Island 
of  Barbadoes.  It  is  possible  to  go  from  La  Guayra 
to  Barbadoes,  thence  to  Para  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Amazon,  and  from  there,  on  the  local  coasting  line, 
the  Lloyd  Brazileiro,  to  Rio,  but  I pity  the  man 
who  would  attempt  such  a foolish  journey. 

Continuing  the  ocean  voyage  southward,  the 
steamer  brings  one  to  Talcahuano,  the  seat  of  the 
naval  academy  of  Chile,  then  to  Coronel  and  Lota, 
adjacent  mining  ports;  from  there  the  traveler  can 
go  by  rail  to  Concepcion,  the  third  largest  city  in 


8+ 


A TRAVELER'S  NOTES 


Chile.  Valdivia,  the  head  of  a German  colony,  is 
next;  other  ports  of  less  importance  follow,  and 
the  Chilian  journey,  after  passing  into  and  nearly 
through  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  ends  at  Punta 
Arenas,  the  southernmost  city  of  the  world.  There 
steamers  turn  to  the  north  for  the  Falkland  Islands, 
Buenos  Aires,  Rio  and  Europe. 

This  trip  south  from  Guayaquil  and  from  Val- 
paraiso around  Cape  Horn  ought  to  be  of  particu- 
lar interest  to  North  Americans,  because  of  the  ori- 
gin of  the  Pacific  Steam  Navigation  Company. 
The  man  whose  genius  devised  and  brought  it  to 
success  was  William  Wheelright,  a native  of  New- 
buryport,  Massachusetts,  who  was  wrecked  in 
1823  on  the  Argentine  coast,  near  Buenos  Aires. 
From  that  date  he  gave  his  efforts  and  his  dreams 
to  the  material  improvement  of  South  America. 
He  was  at  one  time  United  States  Consul  at  Guaya- 
quil, Ecuador,  and  soon  after  established  a ship- 
ping business  in  Chile.  There  he  planned  a railway 
across  the  Andes;  he  completed  steam  communica- 
tion between  Valparaiso  and  Santiago,  and  later 
attracted  thither  the  famous  Henry  Meiggs,  whose 
brilliant  engineering  achievements  filled  with 
wonder  Chile,  Peru  and,  in  fact,  all  the  world. 
His  last  years  were  given  to  building,  in  Argentina, 
the  railway  which  is  now  stretched  almost  across 
the  continent.  This  was  during  the  administration 
of  President  Sarmiento,  and  it  is  the  only  discredit 
attaching  to  that  statesman  that  his  jealousy  of 


WILLIAM  WHEELRIGHT  85 


Wheelright’s  constructive  genius  caused  Argentina 
to  ignore  the  debt  of  gratitude  due  him.  But  the 
crowning  work  of  Wheelright’s  career  was  the 
foundation  of  the  Pacific  Steam  Navigation  Com- 
pany. Before  his  time  the  passage  through  the  dan- 
gerous Straits  of  Magellan  had  been  made  only  by 
sailing  vessels,  but  Wheelright  saw  the  necessity 
and  the  commercial  capacity  of  steam.  He  could 
not  get  help  in  his  native  country,  so  went  to  Eng- 
land. There,  in  spite  of  ridicule  and  abuse,  he  won 
the  confidence  of  English  public  men  and  finan- 
ciers, who  built  for  the  company  he  organized  two 
small  steamers.  These,  with  Wheelright  on  one 
of  them,  sailed  from  England,  and  with  no  great 
misadventure  reached  the  harbor  of  Valparaiso 
October  16,  1840.  The  Chileans  went  wild  with 
delight.  They  hailed  him  as  their  benefactor,  and 
have  since  erected  a statue  to  his  memory.  But  the 
P.  S.  N.  Co.  is  a British  institution.  Americans 
never  partook  of  the  advantages  one  of  their  loyal 
sons  offered  them ; and  unless  we  exercise  greater 
energy  now,  we  shall  always  be  subordinate,  as  in 
this  case,  to  the  influences  of  Europe. 


ARGENTINE  STATISTICS 


Area,  1,135,840  square  miles.  Population,  5,500,000; 
per  square  mile,  5. 

Foreign  debt,  $385,465,000.00.  Per  capita,  $71.00. 

Money,  gold  standard,  on  a fixed  exchange,  convertible 
into  silver  currency.  Currency,  paper  above  the  dollar, 
which  is  exchanged  on  a fixed  ratio  of  $2.27  paper  to  $1.00 
gold.  Silver  and  nickel  coins  of  fractions  of  this  peso,  silver. 

Trade  statistics  (1905)  : Exports,  total,  $322,843,841.00; 
to  the  United  States,  4.8  per  cent. ; to  England,  16.66  per 
cent.;  to  Germany,  13.25  per  cent.  Imports,  total  $205,154,- 
420.00 ; from  the  United  States,  14.30  per  cent. ; from  Eng- 
land, 39.20  per  cent. ; from  Germany,  14.40  per  cent. 

Investments  in  the  coun- 
try : Of  English  money, 
$1,500,000,000.00;  of  Ger- 
man, $100,000,000.00  (ex- 
clusive of  land  owned  by 
German  colonists);  of 
American,  $10,000,000.00. 

Miles  of  railway,  12,500; 
government  owned,  1.500; 
subsidized,  11,000;  unsub- 
sidized, none. 

Capital,  Buenos  Aires ; 
population,  1,000,000. 

Army,  20,000  active; 
120,000  including  reserves. 

Navy,  60,000  tons  ; 6,000 
men. 


STATISTICS  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES 

Area,  3,925,600  square  miles.  Popula- 
tion, 85,000,000;  per  square  mile,  28. 

Trade  Statistics — Exports:  Total,  $1,- 
626,983,524.00;  to  England,  34  percent.; 
to  Germany,  11.3  per  cent.;  to  South 
America,  4 per  cent.  Imports:  Total, 
$1, 179. t35. 344-0°;  from  England,  15  per 
cent.;  from  Germany,  10  per  cent.; 
from  South  America,  12.7  per  cent. 

Miles  of  railway,  225,000,  exclusive 
of  sidings  and  secondary  tracks,  all  pri- 
vately managed. 

Army,  100,000  maximum  strength;  at 
present,  64,000  men;  navy,  about  570,- 
000  tons. 

There  is  no  external  debt  in  the 
South  American  sense. 

National  debt,  $989,866,722;  per  cap- 
ita, $11.60;  to  which  add,  for  state,  mu- 
nicipal and  school,  $18.15;  total,  per 
capita,  $29.75. 


86 


JUJUY 


Asuncion 


Caldera, 


’ncurnaj 


[Computes' 


ban  la 
! ^Cruz 
lambui 


IIuasCT 


Coquimboj 


Slw:i  SJ 


Cordoba' 


/emre 

Parana 


ilo  Sul 
In  he 
trim 


Mendoza 


Valparaiso 

« San  til 


I ^•tSnixr 


• - 

gM  E N D O Z A 


r -!  (luc»»s 


Maldonado 


■Ste2's4&y/// 

v R G w. 

EL  MM RA 

i\.  T6R- 


Concepcion, 


B l^€fN  O S A I 


Bahia  Blanc: 


[neuquen 


Valdivi; 


RIO  NEGRO 


Gnl/o  lie 
Sun  Jo  rtf 


SANTA  CRUZ 


l T LAX  TIC 


O C / ; A ^ 


MAP  OF 

UIGEXTIXA 

AND 


URUGUAY 

Scale  of  Miles 


Bulan  Grande 


St  rail  of 
Man/  linn 


v-.  Part  of  United  States  east  of 
Mississippi  River  shown  in  red 

1 1 Grain  and  Alfalfa 

1 I Cattle  Country 

Z1  Wooded  Areas 


<=  C . Horn 


CHAPTER  THREE 


ARGENTINA 

GEOGRAPHY 

Argentina  is  one-third  the  size  of  the  United 
States.  Its  area  is  1,135,840  square  miles — as  much 
as  the  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi,  with  Iowa, 
Minnesota  and  the  Dakotas  added.  In  fact,  it  is 
an  enlarged  Dakota,  as  far  as  cultivable  land  is 
concerned,  with  the  inestimable  advantages  of 
warmer  climate  and  greater  accessibility  to  the  sea. 

Argentina  extends  over  thirty-four  degrees  of 
latitude,  from  220  S.  to  56°  S.;  its  land  boundary 
on  the  west  has  a total  length  of  3,000  miles,  on  the 
north  of  1,000  miles;  from  its  northeastern  boun- 
dary to  the  mouth  of  the  River  Plate  is  750  miles 
of  navigable  water,  while  from  Buenos  Aires  to 
Tierra  del  Fuego  there  is  a salt-water  frontage  of 
1,615  miles,  lacking  only  200  miles  of  the  distance 
from  Portland,  Maine,  to  Key  West,  Florida.  The 
greatest  width  of  the  country  is  only  800  miles,  but 
this  is  by  no  means  uniformly  preserved.  At  the 
lower  extremity  it  is  scarcely  250  miles  from  sea 
to  mountain.  Buenos  Aires,  the  capital  and  prac- 
tically the  easternmost  point  toward  the  sea,  lies  as 
far  south  of  the  equator  as  Los  Angeles  is  north, 

87 


88 


ARGENTINA 


and  is  as  far  east  of  Washington  as  the  center  of 
Newfoundland.  The  natural  boundary  between 
Argentina  and  her  neighbor  and  rival,  Chile,  is 
the  backbone  of  the  continent,  the  Andes,  whose 
circle  of  longitude  nearly  passes  through  Augusta, 
Maine.  From  these  heights,  at  Aconcagua  reach- 
ing 23,000  feet,  the  slope  is  gradual  or  abrupt  to- 
ward the  Atlantic  Ocean,  embracing  the  deep  in- 
dentation of  Bahia  Blanca,  one  of  the  commercial 
doorways  to  the  continent  and  the  huge  basin  of 
the  River  Parana.  This  river  is  one  of  the  three 
outlets  from  the  interior  of  the  continent  to  the  sea, 
superior  to  the  Orinoco  in  Venezuela,  and  second 
only  to  the  Amazon  in  South  America.  Emptying 
with  the  Uruguay  River  through  the  La  Plata,  the 
outlet  is  eighty  per  cent,  larger  than  that  of  the 
Mississippi  and  drains  an  area  of  800,000  square 
miles. 

Nearly  every  acre  of  this  land  in  Argentina  is, 
with  the  simplest  of  railway  construction,  within 
reach  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean;  there  are  no  natural 
barriers  to  overcome,  such  as  we  have  in  the  Alle- 
ghanies  on  the  east  or  in  the  Rockies  on  the  west. 
Produce  that  can  not  be  floated  down  a river  to 
tide-water  could  be  loaded  on  to  cars  and  with 
slight  expense  and  a short  haul  be  mechanically 
transferred  to  modern  ships  in  modern  harbors, 
with  the  whole  consuming  world  of  Europe  closer 
to  their  producing  areas  than  are  the  fields  of  our 
Middle  West.  How  immense  are  these  storehouses 


GEOGRAPHY 


89 


of  nature  and  how  close  to  markets  can  scarcely  be 
grasped  except  by  a close  study  of  their  geography. 
Misiones,  Entre  Rios  and  Corrientes  may  be  com- 
pared to  interior  Virginia  reached  by  the  James; 
the  Province  (State)  of  Buenos  Aires,  to  New 
York,  so  close  to  the  sea  is  it;  the  more  northern 
areas  are  nearer  the  natural  highways  of  transit 
than  are  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Arkansas  and  Mis- 
souri on  the  Mississippi;  while  south  of  Buenos 
Aires  it  needs  only  a few  miles  of  railway  to  bring 
the  products  of  millions  of  fertile  but  as  yet  un- 
tilled acres  as  close  to  the  consumer  as  are  Louis- 
iana, Alabama  and  Texas  to-day.  It  is  only  along 
the  eastern  slope  of  the  Andes,  that  is,  to  the  west 
of  the  republic,  that  Argentina  shows  any  real  ele- 
vations; in  Tucuman  are  mountains  of  15,000  feet, 
and  from  there  southward  are  mountains,  valleys 
and  hills;  but  the  real  Argentina  is  a fertile  plain 
which,  measured  by  the  standard  of  our  own  soil, 
has,  it  is  safe  to  say,  500,000,000  acres  that  can 
some  day  be  turned  to  cultivation  of  life-sustaining 
products.  In  the  remaining  regions  gold  and  other 
precious  minerals  are  found,  but  Argentina  is  es- 
sentially an  agricultural  country.  There  the 
wealth  of  nature  is  from  the  earth,  and  the  more 
she  gives  the  more  can  it  be  replenished. 

Some  of  this  land  is  at  present  heavily  timbered 
with  woods  of  great  commercial  value,  which  are 
rapidly  finding  a market;  but  even  allowing  for 
this  area,  the  greater  part  of  the  country  is  a well- 


90 


ARGENTINA 


watered  treeless  plain,  ready  for  animal  pasture  or 
the  plow. 

In  addition  to  its  accessibility  to  the  sea-coast 
and  therefore  to  the  world’s  markets,  this  area  has 
another  great  advantage  over  our  older  northwest, 
Minnesota  and  the  Dakotas,  or  the  newer  regions 
of  Canada,  in  that  the  climate  is  superior  for  the 
growth  of  cattle  and  grain,  and  for  the  dwelling- 
place  of  man.  Only  the  upper  tip  of  Argentina 
lies  within  the  tropics,  but  over  the  regions  of  the 
north  as  far  south  as  the  mouth  of  the  Parana,  the 
climate  in  summer  is  about  equal  to  that  of  our 
Gulf  States,  while  that  of  winter  bears  a comfort- 
able resemblance  to  our  late  springs.  There  is 
never  snow  or  frost  over  this  section  of  the  coun- 
try, and  the  heat,  although  oppressive  at  times, 
never  becomes  the  blistering  furnace  found  in  New 
York,  Boston  or  St.  Louis  during  the  summer. 
Buenos  Aires  is  about  on  a line  with  Capetown, 
South  Africa.  The  climate  is  superior  to  anything 
in  our  country,  and  the  name,  “Good  Air,”  is  not 
misapplied;  the  summer  heat  in  Buenos  Aires  is 
always  bearable,  while  the  winters,  even  with  their 
western  winds,  do  not  prevent  life  out  of  doors. 
This  equability  of  temperature  is  noticeable  all 
over  the  middle  provinces,  even  west  to  the  base  of 
the  Andes  and  south  to  the  border  of  the  Rio  Ne- 
gro; but  southward  to  the  end  of  the  continent,  at 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  it  grows  progressively  colder, 
although,  even  with  snow  and  frost,  the  severe 


mmm 


Wheat  Stack  in  Argentina 


Traveling  in  South  America 


Falls  of  Iguazu — Misiones  in  Argentina 


i ■ i. 


CROPS 


9i 


winters  of  northern  Michigan,  with  the  disastrous 
consequences  of  snow  blockades,  are  unknown. 

The  wheat-growing  and  cattle  belt  of  middle 
Argentina  is  not  as  well  watered  as  is  our  Middle 
West  above  the  Ohio  River;  here  again  the  com- 
parison with  Dakota  must  be  made,  because  the 
rivers  can  not  be  used  for  the  transport  of  merchan- 
dise; but  there  are  numerous  streams  that  offer 
enough  water  for  irrigation,  and  only  a few  feet  be- 
low the  surface  water  can  be  found  either  for  live 
wells  or  for  the  windmills  which  form  the  outposts 
of  all  well-equipped  estancias.  In  Misiones  the 
landscape  is  Brazilian  and  to  the  extreme  south  it  is 
like  Arizona,  but  the  droughts  of  southern  Cali- 
fornia are  unknown.  The  soil  and  the  climate 
combined  allow  Argentina  to  grow  anything  that 
the  United  States  can  grow,  and  practically  at 
half  the  cost;  every  product  of  our  fields  is  already 
found  there — sugar,  grapes  for  wine,  oranges,  all 
our  woods  with  others  strange  to  us,  cotton,  alfalfa, 
corn,  rye  and  wheat.  Sheep,  cattle,  horses  and 
hogs  are  already  there  in  numbers  soon  to  equal 
those  in  the  United  States.  Coal  and  iron  are  the 
only  products  lacking;  iron,  scarcer  than  copper, 
is  less  easily  found  than  gold  or  silver.  However 
much  may  by  future  discovery  be  unearthed  there, 
it  is  certain  that  the  United  States  will  never  have 
in  the  Argentine  a competitor  in  the  natural  wealth 
possessed  by  us  in  coal  and  iron. 

The  configuration  of  the  country  throws  her 


92 


ARGENTINA 


commerce  into  three  natural  channels,  from  the 
north  and  northwest,  the  west,  and  from  the  south- 
west; from  the  rivers  Uruguay  and  Parana  through 
Rosario,  from  the  immense  western  interior 
through  the  port  of  Buenos  Aires  and  its  adjunct 
La  Plata,  and  from  the  southern  and  as  yet  unde- 
veloped region  beyond  through  Bahia  Blanca. 
There  are  protected  harbors  farther  south,  and  a 
fleet  of  coasting  steamers  serves  the  growing  trade, 
but  it  will  be  years  before  this  newer  section  is  suf- 
ficiently developed  to  demand  an  exporting  com- 
merce of  its  own.  Rosario,  Buenos  Aires  and  Bahia 
Blanca  are  as  modern  as  skill  and  science  can  make 
them. 

These  millions  of  square  miles  are  by  no  means 
all  in  the  hands  of  private  owners.  The  nation 
owns  and  gives  good  title  to  land  in  most  of  the 
provinces;  the  provinces  and  territories  themselves 
also  own  land  and  by  careful  distribution  en- 
courage colonial  or  independent  migration.  In 
some  directions,  especially  west  from  Buenos 
Aires,  the  national  or  state  government  land  has 
been  disposed  of,  so  that  the  land  on  the  market  is 
in  the  hands  of  private  individuals  or  corpora- 
tions. In  other  directions,  that  is,  in  the  less  settled 
states  and  territories,  land  can  still  be  purchased 
from  the  government,  although  much  of  it  has  al- 
ready passed  into  private  hands;  but  considering 
the  vastness  of  the  areas  yet  untilled  and  even  un- 
explored, there  is  still  much  land  relatively  cheap 


COLONIES 


93 


and  quite  accessible,  more  so  indeed  than  in  the 
United  States;  this  fresher  region  can  be  compared 
with  the  districts  just  opening  in  the  Canadian 
northwest. 

Two  great  differences  must  be  noted;  the  first 
of  these  is  that  the  railways  have,  with  only  one  or 
two  exceptions,  been  given  no  land  as  part  of  their 
concession  and  can  not  therefore  advertise  the 
country  for  the  use  of  settlers  with  that  freedom 
which  characterized  our  railways  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi in  former  years;  a government  guaranty 
on  bond  issues  takes  the  place  of  the  land  grants 
with  which  we  are  so  familiar.  The  second  differ- 
ence is  the  persistent  and  generous  effort  made  by 
the  Argentine  government  to  bring  in  and  to  en- 
courage colonizing  immigrants.  They  are  welcom- 
ing colonists,  while  we  are  trying  to  keep  out  all  but 
the  most  desirable,  because  there  is  more  need 
there  than  with  us  for  common  labor.  To  be  sure, 
in  parts  of  the  United  States  labor  of  all  kinds  is 
needed  for  industrial  improvement;  but  if  it  were 
properly  distributed  we  should  have  enough  for 
both  factory  and  field.  In  Argentina  there  is  not 
a sufficiently  large  working  class,  either  for  the 
increasing  demand  in  the  large  cities  or  for  the 
greater  activity  throughout  the  whole  nation  in 
its  agricultural  expansion.  Our  very  recent  exper- 
iment in  Carolina  is  but  a smaller  instance  of  what 
all  Argentina  is  attempting.  In  the  nation  there 
are  several  hundred  colonies  which  have  acquired 


94 


ARGENTINA 


land  under  state  aid  and  are  paying  for  it  by  the 
returns  from  work,  or  have  purchased  from  pri- 
vate land  companies  who  advance  money,  machin- 
ery and  the  necessities  of  living,  receiving  as  pay- 
ment a goodly  share  of  the  increase.  The  Baron 
Hirsch  colony  is  a fine  example  of  such  a system, 
and  is  one  of  the  few  Jewish  settlements  demon- 
strating that  the  Jew  can  be  successful  in  his  an- 
cient occupation  of  agriculture  and  herding,  after 
so  many  generations  of  overcrowding  in  urban 
ghettos. 

Many  individuals  in  Argentina  have  become 
enormously  rich  from  land  and  its  products,  and 
there  is  yet  plenty  of  opportunity  for  the  careful 
investor  to  secure  virgin  land  within  500  or  1,000 
miles  of  the  capital,  and  to  watch  it  grow  and  in- 
crease in  value.  But  he  must  have  money  to  be- 
gin on,  and  ability  to  compete  on  equal  terms 
with  the  millionaire  estancieros  already  on  the 
ground.  I do  not  mean  that  any  commercial  com- 
petition is  probable,  but  that,  the  market  being 
open  to  any  one,  the  highways  are  crowded  and 
only  an  up-to-date  product  will  bring  the  pre- 
vailing price.  The  poor  man  who  wishes  to  make 
a home  in  this  new  country,  as  he  would  do  in  our 
Northwest  or  in  the  newer  Canada,  has  no  place  in 
Argentina;  the  tendency  to-day  is  rather  toward 
labor  of  the  community  or  colony,  from  which  the 
individual  may  finally  break  away.  The  solitary 
settler,  as  we  know  him,  would  find  life  very 


PRODUCING  CAPACITY 


95 


lonely.  To  own  land  appears  to  be  of  greater  value 
than  to  work  on  it.  The  consequence  is  that  some 
titles  are  endangered  by  the  tricks  of  the  govern- 
ment, or  by  the  corporation  land  agent,  while  the 
character  of  the  peon  settlers  from  Italy  or  Spain 
is  far  below  the  character  of  our  early  pioneers. 
The  north-European  may  acquire  land  in  Argen- 
tina and  grow  rich  from  it,  but  his  life  will  be 
isolated,  and  he  will  find  few  of  the  German  or 
English  homes  which  have  made  the  villages  of 
Kansas  and  Texas  so  pleasant. 

Apart  from  the  loneliness  of  these  interior  plains, 
the  Anglo-Saxon  finds  no  companionship  among 
the  south-Europeans,  for  the  settlement  in  Argen- 
tina is  peculiarly  Latin,  although  the  prevailing 
energy  in  the  country’s  growth  is  English.  It  is  im- 
possible to  expect  that  for  generations  to  come  this 
fertile  soil  will  be  anything  but  an  abiding  place 
for  the  money-seeking  Goth  and  a breeding  place 
for  the  humble  and  less  ambitious  Latin. 

It  is  undeniable  that  Argentina  can  give  lodg- 
ment to  100,000,000  people  and  can  furnish  nour- 
ishment, at  a remarkably  cheap  rate,  for  as  many 
more,  when  her  whole  area  is  utilized.  When  it 
has  reached  the  industrial  stage  we  have  reached, 
it  is  hardly  to  be  questioned  but  that  Argentina 
will  take  from  us  a large  share  of  the  markets  of 
Europe  which  we  have  rather  boastfully  claimed 
as  our  own. 


CHAPTER  FOUR 


ARGENTINA 

HISTORY 

The  mouth  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  was  entered 
by  the  Spaniard,  Solis,  in  1516,  although  earlier 
but  unknown  Portuguese  explorers  may  have 
passed  the  capes.  The  aim  of  Solis  was  to  discover 
a southwest  passage  to  the  Pacific,  but  he  lost  his 
life  in  a struggle  with  the  Indians  on  the  Island 
of  Martin  Gracia.  In  1520  Magellanes,  a Portu- 
guese, discovered  the  little  hill  of  Montevideo  and 
then  passed  into  the  Pacific.  Adventurer  followed 
adventurer  till  Mendoza,  acting  under  the  Em- 
peror Charles  V,  landed  in  1535  on  the  spot  where 
is  now  the  capital  of  Argentina. 

During  the  time  of  the  colonization  of  the  sil- 
ver country,  which  lasted  until  1800,  the  Spaniards 
did  all  that  human  ingenuity  could  devise  to  ex- 
ploit the  land  and  to  pervert  civilization.  The 
settlement  of  the  east  coast  followed  by  only  a few 
years  the  conquest  of  Peru  (1531),  but  no  such 
developed  or  organized  native  life  was  found.  The 
land  was  agricultural  and  the  aborigines  were  wild 
nomadic  Indians,  so  that  this  region  was  for  years 
subject  to  the  vice-regency  of  Peru.  Santiago  was 

96 


JESUITS 


97 


founded  in  1553,  Tucuman  in  1565,  Cordova  in 
1 573,  Santa  Fe  in  1573,  all  by  explorers  from 
Peru,  from  Chile  or  from  Buenos  Aires.  This  last 
city  grew  in  importance  and  strength  despite  the 
intrigues,  jealousies  and  strange  economic  theories 
of  Spain,  till  in  1717  Zavala  became  the  authorized 
ruler. 

Up  to  this  date  Spain  had  had,  from  without,  lit- 
tle interference  in  her  territorial  ambitions  on  the 
Rio  de  la  Plata,  but  her  authority  had  been  under- 
mined from  within  by  the  increasing  strength  and 
subtleties  of  the  Jesuits.  In  1590  the  Jesuits  laid 
in  Paraguay  the  foundations  of  that  colossal  power, 
lasting  for  more  than  two  centuries,  which  forms 
an  essential  feature  of  the  history  and  development 
of  this  part  of  South  America.  The  Jesuits  worked 
by  priestcraft  and  paternalism,  not  by  the  sword; 
they  subdued  the  Indians  and  turned  them  into 
peons  or  manual  laborers,  but  they  did  not  de- 
stroy them,  as  did  the  Spanish  gold-seeking  adven- 
turers. The  Jesuits  segregated  them,  weakening 
their  resistance  so  completely  that  when  finally  the 
region  between  the  Uruguay  and  Paraguay  Rivers 
— now  Paraguay  and  the  Argentine  Mesopotamia 
— was  opened  to  invasion  the  docile  natives  melted 
away  before  the  aggressions  of  the  invaders.  The 
Jesuit  influence  did  not  extend  over  all  of  what  is 
now  Argentina,  but  it  was  felt  to  the  foot  of  the 
Andes,  where  it  met  the  cold-blooded  conquest  in 
Peru. 


ARGENTINA 


98 


From  1600  to  1700  the  history  of  Argentina  is 
but  a loosely  developing  story  of  international 
struggles,  wider  settlements  and  continuous  regrets 
that  gold  and  silver  were  found  only  across  the 
mountains.  From  1700  to  1800  the  colony  grew 
stronger  and  began  to  realize  the  agricultural 
riches  of  the  La  Plata;  Portugal  became  an  en- 
emy and  claimed  for  Brazil  certain  territory  which 
Spain  refused  to  grant.  England  then  (1762)  al- 
lied herself  with  Portugal,  became  involved  in 
the  quarrel,  and  though  her  arms  were  repulsed 
her  merchants  had  their  eyes  opened  and  aroused 
Spain’s  sluggish  perceptions  by  starting  trade  with 
the  far-off  settlements  on  the  River  Plate.  In  1776 
Spain  realized  the  importance  of  the  country  and 
raised  it  to  a vice-regency,  with  the  capital  city  at 
Buenos  Aires.  In  1767  the  Jesuits  were  expelled 
and  their  ecclesiastical  property  confiscated,  but 
their  power  could  not  at  once  be  checked.  On  the 
whole,  during  the  century,  there  was  a tendency  to- 
ward improvement  and  an  acknowledgment  that 
the  precious  metals  were  subordinate  to  agricul- 
ture. The  viceroys  were  ambitious  patriotic  men 
who,  not  debauched  by  the  poison  of  Andean 
wealth,  were  perhaps  far-sighted  enough  to  dream 
of  a nation  in  the  New  World  resting  upon  a 
foundation  of  expansive  industry,  surer  and  saner 
than  that  of  confiscation  and  Indian  captivity.  At 
any  rate,  the  people  were  beginning  to  feel  the 
spirit  of  revolt  and  to  wish  to  keep  the  land  for 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE  99 


themselves,  even  if  they  had  to  plow  it  themselves. 
This  was  better  than  driving  Indians  into  mines. 
A short  decade  from  1800  to  1810  saw  an  English 
attack  on  territorial  rights  initiated  by  an  assault 
(1806)  on  Buenos  Aires,  but  they  were  repulsed 
by  the  colonists  and  Spanish  troops. 

This  incident  was  the  needed  torch  to  fire  the 
thoughts  of  revolution.  If  there  were  patriotism 
enough  in  Buenos  Aires  and  Montevideo  to  expel 
such  a formidable  nation  as  England,  why  should 
Spain  rule?  A Frenchman  had  led  the  seemingly 
undisciplined  forces  to  victory  after  the  pusillani- 
mous viceroy  had  left  the  unprotected  city  and  fled 
to  Cordova,  but  gratitude  to  a Frenchman  was  not 
subservience  to  the  Bonapartist  idea  nor  to  France; 
no  foreigner  should  govern  them ; they  must  govern 
themselves.  The  succeeding  and  last  viceroy  from 
Spain  was  a tactless,  domineering  bureaucrat,  and 
he  delivered  the  ultimate  stroke  that  decided  Ar- 
gentina to  use  its  own  developing  native  talent  to 
govern  itself.  There  was  an  additional  inspiration 
from  the  United  States  of  North  America  which 
had  already  control  of  her  own  destinies.  South 
America,  seething  with  the  ferment  of  liberty,  de- 
termined to  become  for  ever  free  from  Europe.  A 
declaration  of  independence  was  made  by  the  pop- 
ulace of  Buenos  Aires  on  May  25,  1810.  This  was 
the  natal  day  of  the  Argentine  Republic. 

Thus  the  revolution  broke.  Missions  to  Para- 
guay and  to  Peru  secured  moral  and  material 


IOO 


ARGENTINA 


support  for  the  revolutionists,  while  Spain  with 
wavering  success  tried  to  retain  what  was  once  her 
own.  Brazil,  owned  now  by  Portugal,  voiced  old 
pretensions  and  claims  to  Argentine  soil ; but  Great 
Britain,  moved  by  common  sense  in  protecting  her 
growing  commercial  interests  and  by  her  love  of 
a righteous  cause  as  well  as  by  her  antipathy  to 
Spain,  opposed  Brazil  and  upheld  the  colonists,  so 
that  external  attacks  amounted  to  little.  Internal 
affairs,  however,  were  far  worse  and  discord 
seemed  to  grow  like  alfalfa  upon  the  virgin  pam- 
pas. Out  of  the  unrest  and  ambition  developed 
one  self-perpetuating  discord — the  effort  of  the 
province  of  Buenos  Aires  to  secure  dominant 
power  in  the  nation,  and  the  jealousy  of  the  inte- 
rior provinces  which  stopped  at  nothing  to  wrest 
this  power  from  her.  It  was  town  against  country, 
centralization  against  localism,  man  against  des- 
tiny, in  a battle  that  lasted  nearly  a hundred  years. 

Out  of  the  turmoil  developed  a host  of  patriots 
whose  names  deserve  as  careful  attention  as  we 
give  to  the  heroes  of  our  own  Revolutionary  epoch. 
One  was  Belgrano,  who  in  1812  devised  the  na- 
tional flag — white  and  blue — with  the  emblem,  a 
liberty  cap  held  aloft  by  two  hands  into  the  rays  of 
the  sun.  Belgrano  proved  himself  a general  by 
winning  battles,  and  a statesman  by  uniting,  tem- 
porarily at  least,  the  quarreling  disputants.  An- 
other patriot  was  San  Martin,  an  essential  factor 
in  this  war  for  independence;  his  life  is  one  of 


RIVADAVIA 


IOI 


the  romances  of  America.  Posadas  was  the  first 
executive  head  of  Argentina,  being  nominated 
“Supreme  Director  of  the  United  Provinces”;  he 
soon  relinquished  his  task  to  his  successor,  Alvear, 
who  in  his  turn  yielded  to  Thomas.  During  this 
presidency  there  was  held  a national  congress 
which,  on  the  9th  of  July,  1816,  proclaimed  the 
independence  of  the  United  Provinces  and  elected 
Pueyrredon.  In  1819  a constitution  was  proposed 
but  rejected,  and  the  country  then  plunged  into 
civil  war.  Each  state  claimed  and  was  given  entire 
liberty  so  that,  as  one  historian  remarks,  anarchy 
was  officially  declared. 

In  1820  there  were  twelve  changes  of  government 
in  Buenos  Aires.  Revolution  followed  revolution, 
but  in  spite  of  internal  dissensions  there  was  in  the 
country  a developing  strength,  sufficient  to  claim, 
from  the  United  States  in  1822  and  from  England 
in  1823,  recognition  of  independence.  Interests 
began  to  be  harmonized. 

War  with  Brazil  was  declared  in  1825  over  the 
section  of  South  America  we  now  know  as  the  re- 
public of  Uruguay,  which  each  nation  claimed. 
The  inhabitants  wished  independence,  which  they 
finally  succeeded  in  obtaining  in  1828.  This  war 
brought  out  another  of  the  heroes  of  Argentina,  the 
patriot  and  statesman  Rivadavia,  who  became  pres- 
ident of  the  Argentine  Confederation  in  1826.  He 
was  patriotic  in  that  he  resigned  the  presidency  in 
order  to  avert  a civil  war.  At  times  afterward  he 


102 


ARGENTINA 


held  important  diplomatic  positions,  thus  showing 
that,  without  offending  his  dignity,  a president 
could  officially  serve  his  country  by  accepting 
lower  posts;  he  was  a statesman  in  that  he  found  a 
way  to  harmonize  the  discontented  factions  of  the 
land,  and  to  unify  national  sentiment.  It  is  unfortu- 
nate that  the  name  of  Rivadavia  is  not  better  known 
to  northern  students;  his  earnest  sincerity  and  self- 
sacrifice,  his  far-sighted  intellect  and  patriotism, 
make  him  the  peer  of  many  of  our  Revolutionary 
heroes,  and  show  how  the  Latin  blood,  under  stress, 
is  as  capable  of  developing  national  genius  as  the 
Anglo-Saxon.  Rivadavia’s  fame  rests  also  upon  his 
policy  of  conciliation.  He  won  the  good  will  of 
Europe,  was  given  the  right  to  establish  schools, 
overcame  the  jealousies  of  the  interior  provinces 
against  Buenos  Aires  so  that  Santa  Fe  became,  for 
the  time  being,  the  capital;  and  when  in  1828  Uru- 
guay was  declared  free,  he  was  relatively  the  Jef- 
ferson of  Argentina. 

The  internal  troubles,  which  had  ceased  during 
the  struggle  with  Brazil,  broke  out  afresh,  and  the 
provinces  were  once  more  arrayed  against  Buenos 
Aires.  This  city7  was  growing  so  vigorously  that 
by  all  natural  laws  it  could  be  nothing  but  the 
metropolis,  if  not  indeed  the  capital,  of  the  nation. 
For  the  moment  one  party,  the  Unitarians,  con- 
quered, but  overweening  authority  in  their  hands 
destroyed  their  prestige,  and  the  Federalists,  more 
active  and  more  accustomed  to  warfare,  controlled 


ROSAS  THE  DICTATOR 


103 


Argentina.  The  result  was  to  bring  into  power  that 
wonderful  creation  of  Latin  American  history,  a 
republican  dictator.  The  name  of  this  particular 
one  was  Rosas,  and  he  embodied  all  that  was  ma- 
lignant in  such  a character.  Rosas  was  a Federal- 
ist; that  is,  he  believed  that  Buenos  Aires  should 
play  a subordinate  part  in  Argentine  affairs,  and 
that  the  other  provinces,  even  though  less  settled, 
less  cultured,  less  educated,  should  exert  superior 
influence.  This  meant,  in  fact,  that  isolation  was  to 
be  the  prevailing  policy  of  the  government  on  the 
River  Plate. 

Rosas  was  a cow-boy,  a gaucho  of  the  pampas; 
he  had  had  no  training  beyond  that  of  the  plains, 
and  no  ambition  except  to  follow  whither  his  star 
might  lead.  It  made  him  a dictator.  He  knew  how 
to  please  the  multitude  and  the  gauchos  worshiped 
him.  He  was  first  a general,  then,  in  1829,  gover- 
nor of  Buenos  Aires,  but  not  till  1835  did  he  pos- 
sess himself  of  all  authority.  He  had  resorted  to 
treachery  and  assassination  in  the  beginning  of  his 
career,  and  to  these  medieval  practices  he  added 
intrigue,  constitution-making  or  breaking,  and  bra- 
vado. He  strangled  the  press,  he  cajoled  his  allies, 
he  appointed  his  fawning  favorites  to  the  best 
offices,  and  he  gripped  the  government  with  a hand 
of  iron.  He  soon  lapsed  from  a man  of  primitive 
virtues  into  a selfish  despot  because  he  had  a more 
pliant  material  with  which  to  deal.  Rosas  was 
cruel  and  permitted  to  his  agents,  if  he  did  not 


104 


ARGENTINA 


encourage,  a greater  cruelty.  He  defied  the  al- 
lied strength  of  England  and  France,  and,  al- 
though they  prevented  his  seizing  and  annexing 
Montevideo  (Uruguay),  he  was  clever  enough  to 
prevent  Buenos  Aires  from  suffering  the  conse- 
quences of  his  ill-treatment  of  foreigners.  One  of 
his  ambitions  was  to  preserve  Argentina  for  the 
Argentinos,  but  in  this  he  failed,  because  her  abun- 
dant resources  attracted  an  increasing  number  of 
foreigners.  Both  England  and  France,  actuated 
by  humanitarian  and  commercial  motives,  were  un- 
willing to  abandon  the  investments  which  their 
subjects  had  made.  The  Brazilians,  whose  interests 
also  were  at  stake,  always  gave  moral  and  some- 
times material  support  to  the  Europeans.  They 
forced  the  free  navigation  of  the  Parana  in  1849, 
and  successfully  compelled  him  to  recognize  the 
autonomy  of  Uruguay. 

Rosas  came  into  power  as  a tyrant,  but  tyranny 
breeds  rebellion,  and  Rosas  was  driven  from  power 
in  1852,  after  eighteen  years  of  unrestricted  dicta- 
torship. He  died  in  exile  enriched  by  his  long 
office-holding;  as  a Federalist  he  had  concentrated 
all  power  into  a few  hands,  undoing  by  his  selfish- 
ness and  folly  what  Rivadavia,  as  a nationalist  and 
Unitarian,  had  accomplished  by  his  wisdom  and 
statesmanship. 

There  followed  a curious  anomaly  in  national 
affairs;  by  this  time  the  country  had  become  accus- 
tomed to  attempts  at  revolt  and  even  to  revolution 


CHOOSING  THE  CAPITAL  105 


itself,  but  now  the  Federation  assumed  the  govern- 
ment and  recognized  the  province  of  Buenos  Aires 
as  a state  apart,  separated  from  the  other  states. 
This  relationship,  making  two  factions  in  the  Ar- 
gentine family,  lasted  a year  till  1855,  when  the 
province  of  Buenos  Aires  again  took  the  lead,  be- 
ing recognized  by  Argentina  and  the  rest  of  the 
world  as  the  natural  leader  of  the  nation.  In  1853  a 
congress  was  held  in  Santa  Fe,  and  Urquiza,  who 
had  driven  Rosas  into  exile,  declared  president;  he 
became  in  fact  a dictator,  but  as  a Federalist  he 
could  not  quiet  the  assertive  province  of  Buenos 
Aires.  Around  the  vexed  question  of  federalism  or 
unitarianism  revolved  and  revolted  the  passions  of 
the  nation  for  nearly  ten  years.  Who  was  in  power 
or  who  out,  is  a matter  only  of  the  national  ar- 
chives; revolutions  were  as  frequent  and  as  sudden 
as  Indian  wars,  but  the  end  was  union.  Urquiza 
ceased  active  hostilities,  and  allowed  the  Unitarian 
cause  to  triumph. 

In  1862  the  unity  of  the  Argentine  Republic  was 
assured,  the  capital  was  removed  to  Buenos  Aires 
and  the  history  of  the  real  nation  began  at  that 
date.  Its  most  eminent  figure,  another  of  the  heroes 
of  South  America,  was  elected  president,  a man 
combining  some  of  the  attributes  of  both  Grant 
and  Lincoln,  his  contemporaries  in  the  north — 
Bartoleme  Mitre,  under  whose  administration 
commerce  grew,  railways  were  begun  and  pros- 
pects brightened  generally. 


io6 


ARGENTINA 


In  1862  Mitre  thought  he  was  at  the  threshold 
of  peace,  and  doubtless  he  would  have  accom- 
plished more  for  the  country  if  external  war  had 
not  occupied  the  energies  of  the  nation  almost  ex- 
hausted by  unceasing  internal  struggles.  This  war 
was  the  effort,  finally  successful,  to  crush  the  power 
and  ambition  of  Lopez,  the  dictator  of  Paraguay. 
The  question  in  which  the  war  originated  is  one  of 
the  most  complicated  in  American  history;  no 
Argentino  tells  the  same  tale  as  a Brazilian. 

When  peace  was  finally  declared  in  1870  Argen- 
tina was  nearly  exhausted.  The  country  had  been 
stricken  by  cholera,  the  finances  were  clouded,  pay- 
ments both  foreign  and  local  were  in  arrears;  but 
better  than  cash  on  hand  was  the  spirit  of  national- 
ism, and  the  presence  in  her  councils  of  two  men — 
Mitre,  already  mentioned,  who  as  a general  had 
led  the  army  and  was  now  in  the  president’s  chair, 
and  Sarmiento,  a hero  of  still  loftier  ideals.  Sar- 
miento  may  be  called  the  Lincoln  of  this  Argentine 
crisis.  He  was  born  at  the  foot  of  the  Andes,  of 
peasant  parents,  and  his  own  unaided  genius 
brought  him  to  the  place  he  later  occupied.  He 
received  only  the  rudiments  of  an  education,  and, 
like  Lincoln,  read  by  candle-light  after  his  day’s 
toil  was  over.  His  life’s  story  may  be  epitomized 
in  his  favorite  phrase,  “Found  schools  and  you  will 
do  away  with  revolutions.”  He  studied  and  ap- 
plied his  knowledge;  he  preached  the  gospel  of 
noble  discontent  and  practised  it;  he  was  impris- 


SARMIENTO 


107 


oned  for  his  views  on  liberty,  but  he  laughed  at 
his  jailers  and  cried  for  education  and  liberty  the 
more;  he  fought  for  his  opinions  and  upheld  them 
in  the  public  service. 

Sarmiento  came  to  the  United  States  as  Argen- 
tine minister  (1868)  and  while  here  was  elected 
president  of  the  nation — one  of  the  unique  inci- 
dents in  republican  history.  When  he  took  office 
(October  12,  1868)  the  war  was  not  yet  concluded, 
but  the  end  was  in  sight,  and  he  therefore  could 
look  steadily  ahead  to  a constitutional  government 
of  six  years,  during  which  he  hoped  to  carry  out 
the  reform  and  plans  matured  while  he  had  been 
studying  abroad;  and  he  was  destined  to  succeed. 

Of  course  he  had  a revolution  or  two  on  his 
hands.  But  Sarmiento  held  his  office  for  the  full 
constitutional  term  of  six  years  (till  1874)  and 
afterward  was  senator — the  second  statesman  to 
step  from  the  higher  office  to  the  lower.  During 
his  presidency  the  Paraguayan  war  was  ended; 
public  schools  were  established  throughout  the 
country;  Buenos  Aires  was  practically  made  the 
capital.  Sarmiento  planted  libraries  with  Car- 
negian  prodigality;  he  encouraged  the  extension 
of  the  telegraph  and  post-office;  he  fostered  the 
spread  of  railways,  and  so  invited  foreign  money 
and  migration  that  during  his  term  about  250,000 
immigrants  entered  Argentina.  Europe  began  to 
see  the  true  riches  of  the  country.  The  enlightened 
statesmanship  displayed  by  Sarmiento  aroused  the 


io8 


ARGENTINA 


sympathy  and  cooperation  of  the  Old  World  in 
his  ambition  to  build  up  the  New. 

From  this  date  of  1874  the  traditional  politics 
of  violence  slowly  but  surely  gave  place  to  the 
democratic  principle  of  the  ballot  and  the  consti- 
tution. President  Avellaneda  (187410  1880)  per- 
petuated his  predecessor’s  enlightened  policy. 
Buenos  Aires  was  officially  made  the  capital. 

From  1880  to  1892  Argentina,  especially  Buenos 
Aires,  was  completely  modernized.  Three-quar- 
ters of  a million  immigrants  flocked  to  the 
country,  foreign  capital  poured  in,  railways  were 
projected  and  built  with  energy,  and  Buenos  Aires 
expanded  on  a plan  ambitiously  outlined  to  make 
her  one  of  the  chief  cities  of  the  world.  The  finan- 
cial crisis  through  which  the  nation  passed  in  1889- 
90  on  the  bankruptcy  of  Baring  Brothers,  who 
financed  the  improvements  of  the  city,  was  accom- 
panied by  a craze  for  speculation  which  intoxi- 
cated the  nation. 

But  a country  as  rich  in  natural  resources  as  Ar- 
gentina can  survive  a temporary  ordeal  of  bank- 
ruptcy, and  out  of  the  confusion  the  nation  emerged 
stronger  than  ever.  Pena  (1892-1898)  was  unfor- 
tunate in  not  being  able  to  complete  his  full  term, 
but  a series  of  tactless  errors  and  foolish  blunders 
compelled  him  to  resign.  In  1898  General  Roca, 
for  the  second  time,  came  again  to  the  presidency. 
His  experience,  combined  with  his  knowledge  of 
political  requirements  and  control  of  the  army,  car- 


MILITARISM 


109 


ried  him  into  the  new  century  and  through  his  full 
term.  Roca’s  successor,  Quitanda,  was  properly 
elected  but  died  early  in  1906  and  the  present  presi- 
dent ( 1907)  quietly  assumed  office. 

It  is  useless  to  assert  that  even  the  later  presi- 
dents have  lived  entirely  within  their  constitutional 
rights,  or  that  all  offices  are  assumed  by  virtue  of  a 
pure  and  spontaneous  suffrage.  Much  nearer  the 
truth  is  it  frankly  to  recognize  that  in  Argentina, 
as  well  as  elsewhere  in  South  America,  militar- 
ism has  often  been  the  only  means  whereby  the 
intentions  of  the  government  could  be  enforced. 
The  very  foundations  and  beginnings  of  the  coun- 
try’s life  explain  its  development.  Its  discovery 
was  an  accident;  explorations  had  for  their  pur- 
pose the  search  for  gold,  and  little  thought  was 
given  to  settlement  of  a territory  that  might  give 
outlet  and  home  to  an  agricultural  population. 
The  Roman  Church  was  supreme  from  the  in- 
fancy of  the  colony;  the  aggrandizing  economic 
theories  of  Spain  saw  nothing  in  the  colony  but 
enrichment  of  the  selfish  crown,  and  there  was  an 
uninterrupted  struggle  of  the  people  against  office- 
holding sweaters  and  booty-seeking  adventurers. 
When  the  pressure  became  too  great  the  colonies 
revolted. 

Yet  liberty  to  them  meant  license  and  personal 
irresponsibility.  There  was  no  way  of  governing 
such  social  units  but  by  the  sword.  No  command 
would  be  obeyed  unless  it  came  from  a military 


I 10 


ARGENTINA 


officer.  To  them  law  was  an  unknown  quantity; 
they  had  had  no  hardships  of  forest  conquest  as 
had  had  our  woodsmen  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 
The  North  Americans  entered  their  unknown 
world  with  comparative  slowness,  and  had  not  only 
to  keep  the  Indians  at  bay  but  also  to  clear  the  un- 
ending forest  before  they  dared  to  think  of  settle- 
ment for  themselves  and  families. 

The  South  Americans  were  adventurers  of  an- 
other sort;  home  was  but  a phrase,  gold  was  their 
lodestone.  The  Indians  were  savage  and  hostile, 
to  be  sure,  but  were  not  a self-willed  race;  and 
when  they  were  not  killed  they  became  the  serv- 
ants of  the  conquerors.  In  the  subsequent  inter- 
mingling and  intermarriage  each  learned  the  tricks 
of  the  other.  Their  personal  freedom  was  absolute, 
and  they  had  no  traditions  except  of  a law  which 
it  was  human  to  disobey.  Over  them  was  selfish 
illiberal  Spain,  irritating  the  venturesome  by  silly 
tariff  restrictions,  Old  World  punctilios,  and  office- 
holding tax-eaters;  they  hated  law  and  order,  and 
ahead  was  liberty.  When  the  Indians  of  Peru  and 
Colombia  revolted  it  was  an  early  manifestation  of 
Americanism  protesting  against  cruelty  and  in- 
justice. When  the  yoke  of  Spain  was  thrown  off, 
the  Argentinos  did  not  see  why  they  should  submit 
to  any  yoke;  it  was  local  self-government  pushed 
down  to  the  individual. 

This  desire  for  personal  liberty  welded  on  to  a 
nature  that  can  obey  no  power  but  that  of  the 


NATIONALISM 


1 1 1 


sword,  is  at  the  foundation  of  every  crisis  called  a 
revolution  in  South  America.  It  is  not  essential  to 
the  Latin’s  mind  that  it  should  advance  only  by 
revolt,  yet  in  the  Old  World,  his  history  back  to 
the  Middle  Ages  knew  nothing  else.  Tradition  has 
taught  the  Latins  nothing  beyond  intrigue;  their 
experiences  suggest  nothing  but  fighting  and  an 
evasion  of  a law  that  had  never  done  them  any 
good.  Yet  when  such  men  as  San  Martin  and  Sar- 
miento  explained  that  government  implied  educa- 
tion and  the  suffrage,  when  the  idea  of  material 
wealth  meant  not  alone  riches  but  also  opportunity 
for  larger  numbers  to  live,  the  idea  of  peace  grad- 
ually supplanted  the  glory  of  war.  To-day  in  Ar- 
gentina, a so-called  revolution  is  not  uncommon; 
there  may  be  violent  disturbances  in  the  future,  but 
the  people  are  learning  what  law  and  order  mean. 
The  doctrine  of  federation,  which  is  but  an  earlier 
states’  rights  doctrine,  is  yielding  before  the  larger 
materialism  that  to  us  means  a safeguarded  central- 
ization with  well-preserved  home  rule. 

The  Argentino  has  not  lost  his  poetry  or  his 
idealism;  his  artistic  side  is  not  subdued  by  the 
purer  air  of  his  limitless  plains;  but  he  has  found 
a new  employment  in  developing  a New  World 
nationalism. 


CHAPTER  FIVE 


ARGENTINA 

THE  GOVERNMENT 

“The  Federal  Government  supports  the  Apos- 
tolic Roman  Catholic  Church.”  This  is  the  sec- 
ond article  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Argentine 
nation,  and  in  this  ultramontane  declaration  rests 
the  essential  distinction  between  them  and  our- 
selves; it  shows  that  in  their  minds  they  have  not 
yet  clearly  separated  tradition  from  law.  This  re- 
striction is  inherent  in  every  South  American  re- 
public, with  the  exception  of  Brazil.  It  affects  also 
the  president  and  vice-president,  who  must  belong 
to  the  Church,  although  freedom  of  religion  is 
guaranteed  to  all. 

The  president  and  vice-president  are  elected  for 
a period  of  six  years  and  are  ineligible  for  an  im- 
mediate second  term.  Senators  are  elected  for 
terms  of  nine  years  and  may  succeed  themselves, 
but  one-third  of  the  senate  body  is  renewed  every 
three  years.  Each  senator  must  have  property  with 
an  annual  income  of  $2,000.  The  deputies  (repre- 
sentatives) are  elected  for  terms  of  four  years,  one 
for  every  33,000  inhabitants,  and  may  be  reelected; 
at  present  there  are  120.  The  machinery  of  the 

1 12 


THE  CABINET— THE  ARMY  1 13 


election  provided  by  the  constitution  is  about  the 
same  as  that  of  our  United  States,  an  electoral  col- 
lege for  the  president  and  vice-president,  state 
legislature  for  the  two  senators  from  each  province, 
and  direct  popular  vote  for  the  deputies. 

The  present  working  constitution  which,  omit- 
ting several  tentative  documents,  is  really  the  sec- 
ond, dates  from  September,  i860,  and  its  few 
amendments  have  been  only  amplifications  of 
original  articles.  The  Cabinet  consists  of  eight 
members  instead  of  the  earlier  five,  and  they  are 
called  ministers  (secretaries)  as  follows:  of  the 
Interior,  of  Foreign  Affairs  and  Worship,  of  Fi- 
nance, of  Justice  and  Public  Instruction,  of  War, 
of  the  Navy,  of  Public  Works,  and  of  Agriculture. 
They  are  appointed  by  the  president  with  the  ad- 
vice and  consent  of  the  Senate. 

The  army  of  regular  fighting  strength  consists 
of  about  20,000  men,  well  equipped  and  drilled.  I 
have  seen  the  cavalry  on  review  and  it  will  com- 
pare favorably  with  any  similar  European  body. 
Most  of  the  men  are  recruited  from  the  cow-boys 
of  the  plains,  who  are  born  to  the  saddle,  and  they 
sit  their  fine  big  horses  with  a grace  and  natural- 
ness which  the  German  might  envy  but  can  not 
acquire,  and  which  is  equalled  only  by  the  cavalry 
regiments  of  the  United  States.  The  infantry  is 
accoutered  with  modern  arms  and  can  do  good 
work,  but  they  are  not  born  soldiers,  like  the  cav- 
alry. In  addition  to  the  regulars  there  is  a line  of 


ARGENTINA 


114 

120,000  which  includes  the  reserves,  a national 
guard  and  a territorial  guard.  Army  service  is 
compulsory  and  conscription  takes  place  from 
among  all  Argentine  citizens,  embracing  all  males 
born  within  the  country  of  whatever  nationality. 
Everything  about  the  army  is  modern.  The  fight- 
ing capacity  here,  as  in  other  countries,  depends 
much  upon  the  general  and  the  cause  for  which  the 
army  is  enlisted. 

The  navy  is  the  best  in  South  America.  The 
armament  of  Chile  is  declared  to  be  superior,  but 
the  fighting  strength  of  Argentina  is  undoubtedly 
better,  while  the  frequent  opportunity  offered  on 
the  Atlantic  to  compare  with  European  battle- 
ships, keeps  Argentina’s  navy  to  a higher  grade  of 
efficiency  than  Chile’s. 

The  post-office  is  a government  institution  un- 
der the  minister  of  the  interior.  Its  organization 
is  on  European  models  and  is  highly  efficient,  the 
service,  especially  in  Buenos  Aires,  being  rapid 
and  trustworthy;  in  many  ways  it  is  superior  to  our 
own.  Its  officials  are  not  hampered  by  the  compe- 
tition of  outside  interests,  and,  with  the  national 
ambition  to  be  one  of  the  substantial  powers,  they 
are  determined  to  bring  it  to  the  highest  possible 
stage  of  efficiency.  The  telegraph  is  controlled  by 
the  government,  although  there  is  no  monopoly. 
There  are  30,000  miles  of  line,  about  one-half  be- 
ing national,  one-third  railway,  and  the  remainder 
the  property  of  the  provinces.  In  this  department, 


Federal  Building — Buenos  Aires 


Avenida  Alvear — Buenos  Aires 


TARIFF  n$ 

too,  everything  is  modern  and  developed  to  a stage 
of  commendable  excellence. 

Argentina  derives  most  of  her  income  from  cus- 
toms and  has  a tariff  devised  not  only  for  revenue, 
but  also  for  protection.  As  it  is  a country  exporting 
food-stuff  altogether,  and  importing  practically  all 
other  articles  of  use,  the  national  government  con- 
tributes toward  the  support  of  the  provinces  and 
territories,  so  as  to  equalize  taxation.  The  protec- 
tion policy  has  been  instrumental  in  establishing 
many  manufacturing  plants  in  the  republic,  and 
Buenos  Aires  has  within  recent  years  become  a pro- 
ducing center  and  promises  rapidly  to  supply  the 
native  demand  for  many  articles  in  general  use. 
For  years  to  come,  however,  Europe  and  the 
United  States  will  continue  to  find  a market  in 
Argentina. 

The  nation  is  officially  composed  of  fourteen 
provinces  and  ten  territories,  related  to  the  gov- 
ernment exactly  as  are  our  own  states  and  terri- 
tories, and  maintaining  the  same  degree  of  local 
self-government.  The  capital  of  the  nation  is  the 
city  of  Buenos  Aires  within  a federal  district,  and 
the  original  province  (state)  of  Buenos  Aires  has 
as  its  state  capital  since  1882  the  made-to-order 
city  of  La  Plata.  The  immense  tracts  of  unoccu- 
pied land,  which  at  first  belonged  loosely  to  the 
government,  are  all  now  practically  portions  of 
the  states  themselves;  the  national  government  still 
owns  and  will  sell  land;  in  its  earlier  years  it 


ARGENTINA 


1 16 

adopted  our  plan  of  devising  unoccupied  land  to 
the  railways  along  their  right  of  way,  but  this  was 
generally  abandoned  in  favor  of  government  sub- 
sidy, and  guaranty  of  principle  and  interest  of 
railway  and  other  improvement  bonds;  so  that  one 
important  incentive  for  expansion,  which  we  have 
at  its  keenest  in  our  southwest  and  northwest,  was 
withdrawn. 

These  railways  draw  their  subsidy  regardless  of 
business,  and  are  subject  to  government  scrutiny; 
they  make  some  effort  to  stimulate  a productive 
output  in  their  vicinity,  but  their  energies  have 
been  rather  given  to  following  than  to  stimulating 
the  increasing  business  along  the  line,  thinking  it 
the  function  of  the  government  to  encourage  immi- 
gration, and  that  the  railway  does  its  share  if  it 
maintains  its  equipment  according  to  grade,  and 
increases  its  facilities  when  business  threatens  to 
overcrowd  the  rails.  The  railway  has  only  recently 
grasped  the  advantages  of  encouraging  settlement, 
because  the  management  has  always  been  in  the 
hands  of  the  British  owners,  who  had  little  concep- 
tion of  the  needs  of  a new  country.  The  result  has 
been  that  the  growth  of  Argentina  is  toward  the 
city,  and  the  nation  has  before  her  one  of  the  great- 
est problems  in  government  and  one  which  we  our- 
selves never  felt.  This  is  the  necessity  of  populating 
the  immense  tracts  of  the  interior,  so  as  to  overcome 
the  dangerous  preponderance  of  the  cities.  Of  her 
5,500,000  inhabitants,  over  one-fourth  live  in  cities 


THE  LAND  PROBLEM 


n 7 

of  25,000  or  more,  and  about  one-fifth  are  in 
Buenos  Aires. 

The  land  problem  is  quite  different  from  that  in 
Brazil.  In  Argentina  there  has  been  a good  gen- 
eral survey  of  all  the  land  in  the  nation,  and  titles 
are  not  so  complicated  or  indefinite  or  obscure  as 
they  are  in  her  big  neighbor.  Much  of  this  land 
has  been  given  to  or  snatched  up  by  private  own- 
ers, and  every  city,  especially  Buenos  Aires,  is 
exuberant  with  land  companies,  while  any  newspa- 
per supplies  its  readers  with  advertisements  of 
auction  sales  of  corner  lots  in  projected  colonies 
and  settlements,  or  in  “camps”  (ranches,  country 
estates)  which  may  comprise  thousands  of  acres. 
The  immigration  department,  under  the  minister 
of  the  interior,  publishes  elaborate  information 
guides  for  settlers,  and  each  state  seconds  the  na- 
tional government  in  its  efforts  to  attract  into  the 
country  a class  that  will  adopt  an  agricultural  life. 
Free  transportation  and  money  advanced  for  house 
construction  are  among  the  inducements  held  out 
to  the  immigrant.  Besides  this,  European  com- 
panies have  arranged  for  the  settlement  of  colonies. 
Land-owners  who  possess  millions  of  acres,  and 
who  find  that  their  estates  are  too  unwieldy  for 
them,  are  drawing  into  the  country  a class  of  farm 
laborers  as  small  renters,  or  sharers  of  the  produce. 
These  holdings  may  be  cut  up  into  small  farms  and 
sold  at  an  advance.  Sometimes  the  government 
does  not  always  faithfully  carry  out  its  promises, 


ARGENTINA 


but  in  the  long  run  such  irregularities  will  cease 
and  government  or  private  misdemeanors  will  be 
righted  or  disappear.  Land  can  be  had  for  the 
asking  and  money  can  be  made  from  it  by  the  in- 
dustrious; but  in  any  case  the  settler  must  be  care- 
ful to  secure  his  title. 

The  great  fact  exists  that  a whole  nation  is  offer- 
ing to  the  world  fruitful,  accessible  and  unoccu- 
pied land  near  to  the  consuming  markets,  with  a 
healthful  climate  and  an  undeniable  future  of 
prosperity.  Argentina  is  not  so  abundantly  peopled 
as  she  deserves.  Our  government  is  concerned  only 
in  protecting  the  lives  of  strangers  who  come 
among  us,  or  in  refusing  to  accept  those  who  are 
undesirable;  the  instant  an  immigrant  leaves  the 
inspection  office  with  his  papers  the  government  ig- 
nores him  and  he  becomes  only  a unit  in  the  indus- 
trial body;  but  in  Argentina  the  government 
officially  and  with  financial  aid  invites  him,  be- 
cause an  increasing  population  is  necessary  for 
self-perpetuation.  Statistics  show  that  during  the 
year  1904,  161,078  immigrants  arrived  in  Argen- 
tina; in  1905,  221,622,  while  82,772  left  the  coun- 
try,  giving  a remainder  of  138,850.  The  true 
settlers  represent  all  nationalities  from  3,226  Syri- 
ans to  137  Greeks  and  two  Japanese.  Italians  lead 
with  67,598;  Spanish  with  39,851;  then  Russians, 
French  and  Austrians;  Germans  1,151;  English 
734;  Swiss,  Belgians,  Danes,  and  North  Americans, 
134.  Thus  it  is  seen  that  the  overwhelming  pro- 


THE  PAMPAS 


119 


portion  of  immigrants  is  from  Southern  (Latin) 
Europe.  This  is  natural  because  language,  religion 
and  custom  make  the  transformation  easy,  but  the 
Latin  people  do  not  furnish  the  sturdy  backbone 
of  an  agricultural  population  which  the  country 
wishes;  they  return,  after  saving  their  wages,  to 
the  mother  country,  and  represent  nominally  an 
element  of  trade,  like  the  French  Canadians  in 
New  England.  The  increase  in  population  does 
not  keep  pace  with  the  productive  ambition  of  the 
nation.  This  is  not  the  fault  of  the  government, 
which  has  for  years  done  more  than  could  be  ex- 
pected to  throw  its  land  open  to  Europe,  and  had 
it  not  been  for  the  selfishness  of  many  land-holders 
who  had  veritable  little  kingdoms  on  a patriarchal 
plan,  a healthier  growth  might  have  been  fostered ; 
but  they  were  short-sighted,  and  the  government 
can  not  yet  overcome  their  errors  nor  those  of 
selfish  politicians. 

To  break  the  city  habit  and  to  establish  homes 
in  the  country  will  require  all  the  government’s 
powers.  Only  one  natural  obstacle — the  monotony 
of  the  pampas — must  be  recognized.  However 
fertile  the  land  may  be,  the  imagination  can  not 
create  a feeling  of  home;  the  plains  are  too  lone- 
some, the  distances  seemingly  limitless,  and  there 
is  no  sense  of  the  comfort  of  which  the  North 
European  dreams. 

Argentina  has  been  more  active  than  any  other 
South  American  republic  in  encouraging  foreign 


120 


ARGENTINA 


capital.  Only  during  Rosas’  dictatorship  did  it 
discourage  investments,  and  build  a wall  of  exclu- 
sion around  its  frontier.  Since  then,  and  when 
England  began  to  value  the  boundless  possibilities, 
concessions  and  subsidies  could  often  be  had  for 
the  asking,  and  the  government  has  been  liberal 
in  offering  inducements  for  foreign  capital  to  in- 
vest in  public  works  she  could  not  build  herself. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  go  into  details  concerning 
these  enterprises.  Such  gigantic  schemes  as  the 
Harbor  Works  of  Buenos  Aires,  Rosario  and  La 
Plata,  the  first  of  which  cost  $36,000,000  gold,  or 
the  water  and  drainage  system  of  Buenos  Aires 
which  cost  $34,000,000  gold,  all  directed  by  for- 
eign engineers,  are  simple  instances  of  how  the 
nation  uses  its  money.  Concessions  for  street  rail- 
ways, for  grain  and  cattle  industries,  are  usual, 
while  the  spread  of  railways  is  a continuous  story 
of  the  nation’s  financial  liberality.  Of  the  12,500 
miles  of  road-bed,  1,500  miles  are  owned  and  man- 
aged by  the  government,  the  rest  are  private  corpo- 
rations largely  supported  by  government  subsidy. 
They  are  well  built  and  managed,  although  they 
have  their  defects  in  traffic  adjustment,  and  they 
do  not  know  how  to  create  expansion  in  the  way 
illustrated  by  the  Great  Northern  or  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Systems.  Perhaps  if  the  government  insisted 
that  the  railways  take  land  instead  of  subsidy  and 
pay  more  attention  to  carrying  freight  to  a rural 
population  whose  standard  of  living  could  thereby 


GROWTH 


I 2 I 


be  raised,  the  embarrassment  of  the  whole  nation 
might  be  reduced.  Not  all  the  railways  have  termi- 
nals in  Buenos  Aires,  for  Rosario  is  an  independent 
seaport  and  so  is  Bahia  Blanca;  but  the  inevitable 
tendency  of  every  line  is  toward  the  capital,  and 
where  independent  entrance  is  not  obtainable,  close 
connections  are  made;  this  is  necessary,  because 
practically  all  traffic  is  international,  and  the 
amount  of  local  freight,  handled  between  interior 
points,  is  a negligible  item.  That  Argentina  can 
show  a healthy  growth  on  the  firm  foundation  of 
land  is  brought  out  by  the  facts  that  during  the  last 
decade  her  population  increased  forty-two  per 
cent.,  her  railway  mileage  thirty-six  per  cent.,  and 
the  area  of  land  under  cultivation  one  hundred  and 
sixty-seven  per  cent. 

The  burden  of  national  subsidies  is  not  really  an 
evil  nor  can  it  be  shown  that  Argentina  recklessly 
entered  into  a national  expenditure  which,  in  more 
thickly  settled  industrial  countries,  is  undertaken 
by  private  enterprise. 

In  the  first  place,  the  nation  needed  money  to 
meet  the  enormous  debts  incurred  by  her  early 
foreign  wars  and  by  the  internal  struggles  pro- 
voked by  the  wild  and  unruly  estancieros.  The 
landed  aristocracy,  filled  with  dreams  of  repub- 
licanism, did  not  always  reckon  the  cost,  and  cash 
was  forgotten  when  these  ranchmen  first  tasted 
power.  But  they  had  the  land,  and  however  dimly 
they  may  have  perceived  its  value,  they  knew  that 


122 


ARGENTINA 


such  land  would  ultimately  carry  all  the  burden 
they  could  impose  upon  it. 

In  the  second  place  Europe,  by  deeper  experi- 
ence, had  long  estimated  the  enormous  worth  of 
such  broad  fields  with  a beneficent  climate  and 
easy  access  to  tide-water;  these  pastures  had  no 
rugged  mountains  to  obscure  them,  and  the  belli- 
cose Spaniards  had  almost  annihilated  the  savages 
that  first  dwelt  there;  so  no  treacherous  and  stub- 
born foe  opposed  their  progress.  A granary  for 
the  world  was  ready  for  the  taking,  and  Europe 
took  it,  not  by  force  but  by  finance.  England  has, 
on  a conservative  estimate,  $1,500,000,000  already 
invested  in  industrial  ventures  and  in  land.  Spain 
and  Italy  have  two  millions  of  their  people  already 
domiciled  in  Argentina,  and  Germany,  Austria 
and  Russia  send  to  a smaller  degree  both  cash  and 
human  beings  to  this  agricultural  El  Dorado.  The 
United  States  is  an  insignificant  factor  in  her  ad- 
vance, having  at  one  time  led  in  democratic  ideals, 
but  being  now  only  her  envied  prototype  in  ma- 
terial expansion.  This  in-pouring  of  foreign  gold 
was  an  almost  unmixed  good.  It  promoted  uni- 
tarianism — what  we  call  centralization — and  al- 
though the  provinces  (states)  will  never  lose  their 
autonomy  or  their  local  pride,  yet  irrational  state 
jealousies  will  finally  yield  to  a pride  in  a future 
national  unity,  since  no  state  can  have  an  inde- 
pendent policy  apart  from  the  welfare  of  Buenos 
Aires.  Foreign  capital  was  instrumental  in  bring- 


FINANCES 


123 


ing  about  the  law  of  1896  and  others  following, 
by  which  the  foreign  loans  of  the  states  were  as- 
sumed by  the  national  government,  so  that  all  the 
Argentine  external  debt  is  negotiated  through  one 
financial  channel.  In  the  aggregate  the  sum  looks 
large;  but  it  is  a false  notion  to  compute  the  debt 
according  to  inhabitants,  which  is  a small  factor; 
the  debt  rests  really  upon  the  land.  The  only  les- 
son needed  is  a conservative  adjustment  between 
expenses  and  resources.  Argentina  has  not  always 
been  able  to  accomplish  this,  and  has  sometimes 
been  extravagant,  but  her  financiers  are  learning, 
and,  being  more  and  more  closely  dependent  upon 
Europe  for  their  markets,  are  becoming  conserv- 
ative in  their  estimates.  In  1905  the  national  in- 
come was  about  $100,000,000,  and  expenditures 
$80,000,000.  With  forethought  this  balance  can  be 
maintained.  Statistical  reports,  however,  and  es- 
pecially financial  declarations,  must  not  be  im- 
plicitly trusted  in  Argentina,  because  the  nation 
is  not  trained  at  keeping  books,  and  tables  of  figures 
are  sometimes  adjusted  to  suit  a purpose. 

The  financial  lessons  have  on  occasions  been 
accompanied  by  unhappy  punishment,  and  sacri- 
fices have  been  demanded  which  retarded  whole- 
some development.  The  most  striking  punishment 
was  the  fall  in  the  currency  to  a paper  basis;  this 
has  been  subject  to  indecent  fluctuations,  but  to-day 
the  paper  dollar  is  officially  established  to  be  worth 
forty-four  cents  gold,  and  the  gold  dollar  of  any 


124 


ARGENTINA 


country  to  be  exchangeable  for  $2.27  paper.  Fi- 
nanciers do  not  accept  this  arrangement  as  exact  or 
altogether  safe,  but  it  serves,  and  undoubtedly  the 
brains  of  the  financial  world  will  as  readily  adjust 
the  currency  there  as  they  can  the  unsatisfactory 
monetary  contrivance  of  the  United  States.  There 
is  no  doubt  of  ultimate  security,  since  nothing  but 
a cataclysm  of  nature  can  rob  the  country  of  her 
resources. 

Argentina  is  making  a sacrifice  in  the  conduct 
of  education,  which  is  under  national  control.  The 
scheme  of  education  is,  thanks  to  the  genius  of 
Sarmiento,  arranged  to  conform  to  the  public 
school  system  of  the  United  States.  There  are  pri- 
mary, secondary  and  higher  schools,  and  three  uni- 
versities for  the  conferring  of  collegiate  degrees; 
where  the  states  can  not  pay  for  the  maintenance 
of  schools  the  national  government  assists  by  a 
subsidy,  and  everywhere  public  instruction  is  free. 
This  all  sounds  well  on  paper  and  reads  like  a 
Utopian  thesis,  but  in  practice  there  is  a sad  mis- 
conception of  what  education  means.  Superficial- 
ity characterizes  both  the  education  offered  and  the 
desires  of  those  who  submit  themselves  for  instruc- 
tion; there  are  not  seats  enough  in  Buenos  Aires 
for  the  school  children  who  by  law  should  attend, 
and  in  the  country  the  Italian  or  Spanish  families 
remain  the  blissful  analphabets  of  their  own  land; 
in  the  towns  educators  are  poorly  paid  and  owe 
their  position  as  much  to  politics  as  to  any  intrinsic 


FOREIGN  INFLUENCES 


125 


merits  as  teachers.  Diplomas  are  obtained  with 
unnecessary  ease,  and  rumor  asserts  that  they  have 
even  been  bought  and  sold.  Of  course  there  are 
good  men,  as  in  every  country  and  age,  who  have 
the  true  spirit  of  education  and  thoroughness;  but 
they  are  not  abundant.  A glitter  takes  the  place  of 
thoroughness;  they  are  superficial,  and  often  un- 
able to  do  satisfactory  work. 

This  accounts  for  the  influx  of  foreign  talent  as 
well  as  foreign  capital.  Most  of  the  large  proper- 
ties, such  as  railways,  street  trams,  and  manufac- 
turing plants,  are  in  the  hands  of  Anglo-Saxons. 
English,  German,  French  and  American  engineers 
have  been  the  constructive  agents  in  all  the  great 
national  or  industrial  enterprises.  The  Latin  seems 
to  have  little  self-reliant  initiative  to  carry  out 
what  his  imagination  projects.  This  is  partly  due 
to  the  character  of  the  education  offered,  and 
partly  to  the  standard  of  physical  and  mental  train- 
ing throughout  the  land.  But  there  is  one  phase  of 
national  growth  which  is  in  pleasing  contrast  to 
the  laxity  in  education.  I refer  to  the  forces  that 
go  to  make  what  we  call  modern  urban  life. 

The  traveler  who  has  any  criterion  by  which  to 
judge,  must  acknowledge  that  Buenos  Aires  is  the 
finest  city  on  the  American  hemisphere.  It  has  not 
the  natural  beauty  of  the  City  of  Mexico  nor  the 
harbor  facilities  of  New  York;  if  any  comparison 
is  to  be  made,  Chicago  offers  the  easiest  simile. 
The  southern  city  was  founded  years  before  the 


126 


ARGENTINA 


northern,  but  it  is  only  recently  that  the  earlier  one 
has  begun  to  be  cosmopolitan.  Buenos  Aires  is  not 
only  the  capital  of  the  nation,  which  is  an  advan- 
tage, but  it  is  also  the  commercial  focus  of  an  agri- 
cultural activity  not  second  to  our  great  Middle 
West.  Its  banks,  its  exchanges  and  clearing-houses 
probably  transact  as  much  business  as  those  of  the 
city  on  the  lakes.  In  its  natural  surroundings,  with 
the  Rio  de  la  Plata  at  its  front,  it  is  not  unlike 
Chicago  at  the  head  of  Lake  Michigan.  Each  had 
the  same  simple  tasks  to  overcome,  but  where  Chi- 
cago ceased  to  care  for  anything  but  the  grossly 
material,  and  was  content  with  an  ugliness  which 
years  will  not  efface,  Buenos  Aires  began  to 
broaden  in  esthetic  lines  and  to  cultivate  the  graces 
of  cosmopolitanism. 

There  are  no  sky-scrapers,  neither  are  there  ele- 
vated roads,  for  everything  structural  must  con- 
form to  the  plan  of  an  harmonious  whole.  The 
streets  are  well  paved  and  well  cared  for,  the  com- 
fort of  the  citizen  is  more  carefully  considered 
than  in  any  northern  city,  and  everything  that  can 
be  suggested  for  convenience,  health  and  art,  finds 
satisfactory  answer  in  Buenos  Aires.  The  revenues 
usually  balance  the  expenditures,  yet  taxes  are  not 
high  in  proportion  to  the  benefits  conferred.  The 
municipality  itself,  that  is,  the  government,  does 
not  do  nearly  as  much  as  London  or  Glasgow,  in 
the  way  of  managing  its  own  affairs ; the  police  and 
fire  departments  are  part  of  the  federal  district, 


A Crap  Game — Argentine  Cowboys 


Race-course  at  Buenos  Aires 


THE  BALLOT 


127 


though  the  water-works  and  docks  are  the  city’s; 
but  the  trams,  telephones  and  many  other  public 
services  are  privately  owned.  Money  seems  to  be 
no  factor  when  Buenos  Aires  wishes  an  improve- 
ment; she  adopts  a plan  and  pays  the  cost,  and  the 
improvement  is  carried  out  skilfully  and  expedi- 
tiously. 

Of  course  in  a fluid  population,  such  as  there  is 
in  Buenos  Aires,  much  discontent  exists.  A certain 
class  has  all  the  opportunity  to  make  public  office 
a crib  for  the  employee,  and  the  sight  of  such  enor- 
mous unearned  incomes  and  equally  enormous  ex- 
penditures, with  open  dishonesty  of  many  officials 
and  private  promoters,  arouses  in  some  a hatred 
for  civic  injustices  and  inequalities.  This  expresses 
itself  in  a rising  cry  for  state  socialism,  and  the 
discontent  is  fostered  by  the  little  consideration 
given  to  the  general  voter.  For  years  elections  were 
conducted  according  to  the  whim  of  dictators  or 
political  autocrats,  and  the  polls  were  managed  by 
and  for  the  party;  even  now  the  election  laws  need 
not  only  revision  but  enforcement,  if  the  suffrage 
is  to  be  the  expression  of  the  people  and  not  a privi- 
lege granted  to  favorites  or  paid  for  by  interested 
leaders.  No  approach  to  the  application  of  the 
Australian  ballot  system  has  yet  been  made.  Ar- 
gentina in  this  respect  is  not  much  more  advanced 
than  other  South  American  republics,  and  can  not 
therefore  be  recognized  as  an  ideal  democracy. 

But,  contrary  to  belief  and  to  ignorant  assump- 


128 


ARGENTINA 


tions  of  foreigners,  the  nation  is  neither  indifferent 
nor  lazy;  arrogant  it  surely  is,  because  of  the  im- 
mense natural  wealth  and  of  the  rapid  strides  by 
which  it  has  entered  the  ranks  of  industrial  and 
producing  nations;  yet  this  is  but  the  strength  of 
untamed  youth,  and  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  the 
serious  and  deep-thinking  minds  of  true  patriots 
will,  before  the  century  is  over,  make  of  Argentina 
a wholesome  democracy. 


CHAPTER  SIX 


ARGENTINA 

THE  PEOPLE  AND  PRESENT  CONDITIONS 

“We  are  not  yet  a people;  we  have  no  Volk,  like 
Germany  or  Russia.  Argentina  is  only  at  the 
threshold  of  settlement;  but  some  day  we  shall  be 
a mighty  nation.” 

A native-born  Argentino  told  me  this,  and  his 
epitome  of  that  wonderful  country  can  not  be  dis- 
puted by  any  one  who  has  enjoyed  her  hospitality. 
The  Argentino  means  to-day  merely  a person  born 
in  Argentina,  and  the  old  aristocracy  of  Spanish 
blood,  which  ransacked  the  country  a hundred 
years  ago,  has  had  difficulty  in  preserving  its  ex- 
istence against  the  tide  of  Neo-Europeans  eager  to 
partake  of  the  easy  riches  of  that  fruitful  soil.  The 
Argentino  as  a type  is  yet  in  embryo. 

Of  the  6,000,000  inhabitants,  nearly  one-half  are 
foreign  born,  the  great  majority  of  them  coming 
from  Latin  Europe.  Each  individual  immigrant, 
when  he  arrives,  is  inspected  and  assured  that  he 
will  be  given  fair  treatment  and  can  find  work  and 
remuneration. 


129 


130 


ARGENTINA 


The  other  half  of  the  population  goes  back  one 
or  two  generations  to  a European  ancestry.  There 
is  a scant  remnant  of  the  indigenous  Indian,  which 
was  already  on  the  road  to  decay  when  the  country 
was  discovered,  but  no  characteristics  of  Indian 
blood  or  habit  can  be  demonstrated.  Until  1850 
the  growth  of  the  nation,  scarcely  emancipated 
from  Spanish  rule  and  too  troubled  within  itself 
to  seek  or  to  attract  migration,  was  slow;  in  1869, 
of  877,490  so-called  Argentinos,  47,000  were  for- 
eigners, and  these  were  chiefly  Spanish.  Since 
then,  other  south-Europeans  have  come  in  and 
become  naturalized  and  nationalized,  so  that  the 
English  compose  the  really  alien  stock.  Latin  and 
English  are  the  two  ingredients;  Latins  are  easily 
absorbed  after  a few  years,  but  the  English  traits 
can  to-day  be  accurately  and  unmistakably  defined. 
Early  Spanish,  newer  Latin  and  English  are  there- 
fore the  three  dominant  factors.  The  Germans 
have  recently  directed  migration  thither,  but  apart 
from  a few  individuals  in  trade  or  in  the  technical 
professions,  most  of  them  are  among  the  colonists 
who  are  settling  in  the  interior,  where  the  early 
Spanish  left  the  greatest  impress.  Their  influence 
has  not  yet  become  apparent. 

The  later  Spanish,  with  the  Italian  and  the  alien 
colonists,  do  all  the  labor  and  accept  the  position 
of  field  worker.  The  pure-blooded  Castilian  is  the 
aristocrat  and  continues  his  traditions  unfalter- 
ingly, but  where  the  land  has  been  brought  under 


THE  INTERIOR 


I3I 

cultivation,  even  by  this  labor,  and  wherever  are 
found  the  newer  methods  introduced  by  modern 
agriculture  and  the  railway,  the  influences  are  al- 
most completely  English.  Throughout  the  country 
conditions  strike  one  as  primitive  and  unadvanced, 
compared  with  Europe  or  with  the  United  States; 
and  however  old  the  history  may  be,  the  civiliza- 
tion itself  is  new  and  raw.  Even  near  the  cities  the 
people  live  in  a way  which  with  us  is  rather  remi- 
niscent of  backwoods  days  or  of  stagnant  settle- 
ments where  ambition  never  was  alive.  The  roads 
are  across  prairies  or  along  cattle-trails;  buggies 
or  two-wheeled  carts  may  be  used,  but  the  better 
conveyance  is  the  horse  or  mule.  Between  such 
cities  as  Santa  Fe  and  Tucuman  the  old  Spanish 
highway  is  still  traveled,  but  steam  nowadays  takes 
the  place  of  “blood,”  a sangre,  as  their  expression 
goes. 

In  fact,  the  country  is  in  its  infancy.  Here  and 
there  are  estancias,  modest  enough  if  the  homes  are 
of  those  who  have  modest  tastes,  but  luxuriant  and 
magnificent  where  the  estanciero  has  grown  rap- 
idly rich,  traveled  much  in  Europe,  or  lived  in 
Buenos  Aires  and  found  occasion  for  display  and 
culture.  Hospitality  is  as  much  a flavor  of  the 
land  as  is  Spanish  the  verbal  token  of  the  people, 
and  the  kindliness  of  the  Latin  is  always  evident, 
though  it  may  not  be  so  spontaneous  as  it  is  in  older 
countries.  The  habits  of  the  natives  and  colonists 
are  usually  sluggish  and  unrefined;  they  live  in  a 


132 


ARGENTINA 


way  that  is  incomprehensible  to  the  average  North 
American. 

There  seems  really  to  be  no  “settlement,”  in  our 
sense  of  the  word.  In  Argentina  the  country  pre- 
sents great  tracts  of  unused  land,  with  a beautiful 
mansion  as  the  center  of  a domain  regal  in  its 
appointments,  the  working-class  leading  crude 
even  slovenly  lives,  scattered  about  the  estate  ac- 
cording to  the  requirements  of  the  neighborhood. 
Elsewhere  are  colonies  beginning  existence  in  the 
New  World  with  all  hope  and  cheerfulness,  but 
they  are  unaccustomed  to  their  surroundings  and 
find  no  traditional  customs  to  balance  those  they 
bring  with  them  or  to  take  the  place  of  those  they 
leave  behind. 

The  centuries  of  occupation  in  Argentina  count 
for  nothing  when  considering  her  actual  pro- 
ductive capacity.  The  incompleteness  of  occupa- 
tion is  better  understood  when  it  is  remembered 
that  not  only  is  migration  recent  but  also  that  the 
land  was  given  away  in  huge  parcels  to  a relatively 
few  men,  who  did  not  at  first  comprehend  how 
imperatively  nature  demands  that  human  hands  be 
employed  to  get  at  her  treasures. 

The  traveler  in  Argentina  gets  a strong  impres- 
sion that  there  are  no  natives  indigenous  to  the  soil, 
no  “countrymen”  such  as  we  have,  and  no  feeling 
of  kinship  or  homelikeness;  but  a counterbalancing 
impression  must  be  acknowledged  in  the  increasing 
acreage  under  cultivation,  in  the  decidedly  modern 


THE  CAMP 


*33 


tone  of  all  activity  and  in  the  undeniable  manifes- 
tations of  industrial  life.  The  workers  are  ignorant 
and  stupid  and  if  left  to  themselves  might  sink  into 
the  nonentity  of  their  Indian  predecessors.  They 
consume  nothing  proportionate  to  their  produc- 
tion, and  appear  to  be  only  part  of  the  cattle  and 
wheat,  yet  there  is  a force  slowly  changing  them 
into  reasoning,  self-reliant  beings.  This  force  is  the 
aristocracy,  largely  Spanish  (to  some  extent  Eng- 
lish and  Irish),  which  is  determined  to  make  a 
Greater  Argentina  of  what  has  been  intrusted  to 
them.  Within  the  last  decade  they  have  increased 
the  population  forty-two  per  cent.,  the  railway 
mileage  thirty-six  per  cent.,  and  the  area  under 
cultivation  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  per  cent., 
— proof  enough  that  the  country  has  not  yet  settled 
into  national  habits. 

Across  these  plains  the  European  or  North 
American  misses  the  signs  of  village  life  from  sta- 
tion to  station.  Argentina  has  no  village  life,  no 
rural  population,  such  as  one  instinctively  recalls 
in  Spain  or  Italy,  in  Germany  or  England,  or  in  our 
Mississippi  Valley.  The  nation  is  a huge  camp, 
if  the  pun  may  be  allowed — ( campo  is  Spanish  for 
country  as  distinguished  from  city.  In  Argentine 
vernacular  it  implies  both  country  and  ranch.)  It 
is  a shifting,  shack-dwelling,  wage-earning  popu- 
lation, decades  removed  from  the  land-buying  and 
owning,  permanent,  home-building  folk  of  the 
United  States. 


*34 


ARGENTINA 


To  illustrate  this  difference  between  Argentina 
and  the  United  States,  a personal  incident  well 
serves  the  purpose.  We  were  traveling  across  the 
prairies  not  more  than  four  hundred  miles  from 
Buenos  'Aires.  A buggy  had  been  chosen  as  the 
most  suitable  conveyance,  into  which  three  of  us 
had  crowded  so  as  to  be  together  for  the  distance  of 
almost  twenty  leagues  we  had  to  make  between  one 
settlement  and  another.  We  passed  huts  or  rough 
shacks,  put  up  by  natives  or  Italian  and  Spanish 
immigrants  quite  as  much  for  protection  against 
the  weather  as  for  any  semblance  of  permanent 
home;  in  fact,  we  did  not  see  a village  or  what  we 
should  call  a farm-house  all  day  long.  Toward 
evening,  as  we  were  congratulating  ourselves  that 
we  should  reach  the  next  town  before  midnight, 
the  young  fellow  with  us,  who  was  new  to  such  life 
and  had  not  the  resistance  that  comes  from  contin- 
ued exposure,  began  to  suffer  from  indigestion  and 
cramp.  Our  stock  of  remedies  was  of  no  benefit, 
and  the  motion  of  the  buggy  so  intensified  his  dis- 
tress that  further  progress  was  impossible.  We 
stopped  at  the  nearest  habitation,  a primitive  hut 
with  no  floor  but  the  earth,  no  window,  and  only 
beams  covered  with  mud  and  grasses  for  a roof. 
Here  we  found  a cheerful  native  woman,  who  had 
never  known  any  other  existence,  but  her  life  had 
fitted  her  to  handle  such  emergencies.  By  this  time 
our  companion  was  in  agony;  he  could  not  sit  up- 
right nor  lie  flat  on  his  back,  and  his  pulse  was  so 


AN  ACCIDENT 


J3S 


weak,  his  circulation  so  poor,  that  we  feared  he  was 
going  to  die  from  some  sort  of  intestinal  trouble. 
But  the  woman  was  not  to  be  balked  by  such 
symptoms.  Within  a few  minutes  she  had  her 
patient  stripped  and  in  bed;  she  prepared  a kettle 
of  boiling  water  over  her  smoky  fire;  she  brewed  a 
drink  of  some  mysterious  herbs  known  only  to  her- 
self and  her  kind;  and  with  hot  water  compresses, 
hot  blankets,  and  almost  scalding  hot  tea,  she 
showed  her  mastery  over  the  situation.  Within  an 
hour  the  pain  lessened,  by  midnight  the  danger  had 
passed,  and  on  the  following  morning,  our  com- 
panion, though  weak  and  unable  to  walk,  was  car- 
ried to  the  buggy  and  took  the  rest  of  the  journey 
without  risk.  We  had  proposed  to  our  hostess  to 
send  for  a doctor,  but  she  scorned  the  idea,  clench- 
ing her  argument  with  the  statement  that  the  near- 
est medico  was  twenty  miles  away,  a matter  of  five 
hours  at  least  to  fetch  him.  At  first  she  refused  any 
reward  for  her  trouble,  but  finally  accepted  a 
present.  My  elder  companion,  a man  accustomed 
to  years  of  such  wanderings,  said  that  this  case  was 
not  rare;  that  he  had  never  met  anything  but  the 
greatest  kindness  and  that  in  an  emergency  he 
would  rather  throw  himself  on  the  mercy  of  the 
simple  Argentino  than  upon  that  of  a prosperous 
farmer  of  his  native  state  at  home. 

Undoubtedly  all  this  will  change  soon  and  the 
rich  soil  will  become  the  abode  of  a people  with 
roots  penetrating  deep  beneath  the  surface,  but  as 


136 


ARGENTINA 


yet  the  country  offers  no  opportunity  to  study  the 
Argentine  people;  there  can  be  seen  only  the  ag- 
gressive energy  of  Europe,  turning  nature’s  bounty 
into  food  for  the  Old  World.  To  understand  what 
has  already  developed  one  must  keep  on  the  rail- 
road till  one  enters  the  town. 

Judging  by  our  own  landscape,  towns  are  not 
numerous  in  Argentina.  Look  at  a map  and  you 
will  find  names  in  plenty,  but  most  of  them  are  only 
stations  on  the  line,  giving  access  to  large  estancias. 
The  stopping  places  on  a railway  guide  are  fre- 
quent, but  they  may  be  only  water-tanks  or  sidings 
with  elevators  and  stock-pens  for  the  immense 
amount  of  freight  from  the  neighborhood,  waiting 
for  transit  seaward.  It  is  reminiscent  of  West 
Texas.  In  the  province  of  Buenos  Aires  (more 
than  twice  as  large  as  New  York  State),  the  most 
populous  and  oldest  in  the  republic,  there  are,  out- 
side of  the  capital  city  of  the  same  name,  one  and 
a quarter  million  inhabitants.  There  are  scarcely 
half  a dozen  towns,  however,  of  more  than  twenty 
thousand,  yet  the  annual  business  done  in  the  prov- 
ince amounts  to  millions  and  the  agricultural  out- 
put for  the  future  is  incalculable.  The  inhabitants 
are  scattered  over  the  ranches,  tending  cattle  and 
cultivating  wheat  for  the  princely  owners.  The 
other  provinces  are  even  less  thickly  settled  by 
farms  and  towns,  and  the  colonies  lie  hidden  in  the 
distance. 

But  in  the  towns,  especially  those  of  historical 


THE  SMALLER  CITIES 


137 


background  or  in  the  newer  ones  built  to  handle  or 
to  foster  an  increasing  industry,  conditions  are 
much  superior.  To  them  come  all  who  can  escape 
from  the  camp  and  who  have  a spirit  above  the  dull 
routine  of  an  illiterate  peasantry.  I venture  to  say 
that,  town  for  town,  matching  for  instance  Rosario 
(120,000)  with  Buffalo,  or  Santa  Fe  (20,000)  with 
Albany,  there  is  as  much  taste  and  culture  and  that 
municipal  conditions  are  as  good  in  the  southern 
cities  as  in  the  northern.  They  are  places  worth 
living  in ; the  public  buildings  are  artistic  and  have 
a dignity  that  might  put  to  the  blush  most  of  our 
pretentious  Graeco-Roman  post-offices  and  city 
halls;  the  streets  are  well  paved  and  kept  in  good 
repair,  the  water  supply  is  carefully  considered, 
and  the  interior  of  the  homes  is  tasteful  if  not  or- 
nate. This  applies  equally  to  Tucuman  (45,000) 
an  old  Spanish  foundation  of  1565  and  the  cradle 
of  Argentine  liberty  (1816),  and  to  Bahia  Blanca 
with  20,000,  a commercial  seaport  scarcely  a gen- 
eration old.  Each  town  is  the  center  of  its  own  dis- 
trict, though  it  is  not  an  independent  focus  main- 
taining its  own  commercial  and  international 
relations,  like  Pernambuco,  Bahia  and  Porto 
Alegre  in  Brazil. 

In  Argentina  one  marks  certain  traits  in  the 
producing  classes:  they  are  more  wasteful  than  we 
in  the  United  States,  but  they  have  a stronger  ex- 
cuse because  they  are  ignorant,  and  only  within  a 
few  years  have  they  been  introduced  to  modern 


138 


ARGENTINA 


ways;  the  estancieros  are  wasteful,  because  they 
have  only  recently  entered  the  markets  of  the 
world;  hitherto  the  bountifulness  of  nature  sup- 
plied them  with  more  than  their  needs  and  they  had 
not  studied  that  conservation  which  makes  a profit 
out  of  the  surplus ; to-day  they  begin  to  realize  that, 
however  rich  the  resources,  they  must  utilize  all 
they  produce.  The  railways  are  wasteful  and  care- 
less, for  they  show  an  inability  to  move  the  crops 
to  market;  wheat  may  be  stacked  unprotected 
against  inclement  weather,  cattle  may  lose  flesh 
through  improper  methods  of  transport  and  feed- 
ing. A complacent  American  may  feel  quite  com- 
petent to  give  advice  and  to  explain  that  a traffic 
manager  of  any  first-class  road  might  overcome 
these  troubles  and  hustle  freight  to  market  with- 
out losing  a bag  of  wheat,  but  when  he  returns  to 
the  States  he  will  see  that  the  problem  is  the  same 
and  that  we  are  as  embarrassed  as  they  by  a materi- 
al prosperity.  Our  task  is  larger,  that  is  all.  Recent 
car-famines  in  the  Middle  West  repeat  word  for 
word  the  criticism  of  slovenliness  and  incompe- 
tency which  is  to-day  the  slogan  of  attack  on  Ar- 
gentine shipping  methods.  In  both  Americas  the 
explanation  is  that  few  traffic  prophets  have  been 
able  to  foresee  and  to  estimate  the  rapid  growth 
of  production  and  commerce,  and  that  finance  is 
so  conservative  that  it  dare  not  reckon  for  the  next 
generation.  Therefore  money  is  invested  only 
when  the  profit  on  next  year’s  business  is  sure.  It 


AN  AMBITIOUS  PEOPLE 


i39 


is  not  Nature  who  is  wasteful  or  careless  or  slovenly 
or  short-sighted;  it  is  man.  It  requires  more  than 
financial  cleverness  to  look  a generation  ahead. 

There  is,  however,  one  great  feature  which  ani- 
mates the  country  and  the  nation.  No  matter  how 
unfinished  the  camp  may  look,  nor  how  different 
from  our  New  England  or  half-developed  West, 
no  matter  how  we  may  laugh  at  the  childishness  of 
the  Italian  or  the  seeming  stupidity  of  the  field 
laborer,  one  must  yield  to  a conviction  that  Argen- 
tina is  ambitious.  The  people  are  eager  to  get 
ahead.  The  great  difference  between  the  aristoc- 
racy, owning  so  much  of  the  land  and  exploiting 
it  for  their  selfish  ends,  and  the  unstable  peas- 
antry freshly  inspiring  the  theories  of  the  new 
world,  fades  away  before  this  vital  influence.  The 
land-holder  may  fret  because  he  can  not  now,  as 
formerly,  pull  all  the  strings  of  government  at  his 
whim;  the  laborer  may  be  discontented  because 
he  can  not  be  free  from  the  annoyance  of  a bureau- 
cratic administration,  but  every  Argentino  is  de- 
termined to  leave  the  next  generation  in  better  ma- 
terial condition  than  his  own.  The  ambition  of 
the  estanciero  is  to  breed  finer  cattle  or  sheep  or 
horses,  to  increase  his  wheat  acreage  and  to  make 
his  estate  more  beautiful  than  his  neighbor’s;  the 
immigrant  struggles  to  escape  from  peonage  and 
his  patron , so  as  to  become  a farmer  on  his  own 
account.  The  fatalistic  philosophy  of  the  Old 
World  is  lost  in  Argentina,  as  it  is  in  the  United 


140 


ARGENTINA 


States,  and  is  replaced  by  the  desire  to  see  things 
grow. 

What  this  ambition  has  achieved  is  best  illus- 
trated in  Buenos  Aires.  It  is  a panoramic  study 
of  civilization  to  journey  from  the  Andes  eastward 
to  the  capital.  In  the  mountain  pass  separating 
Chile  from  Argentina,  the  traveler  employs  the 
same  mule  of  transit  by  which  the  Incas  must  have 
crossed  and  descended  to  the  fertile  plains  to  the 
east;  farther  down  a narrow  gage  railway  only 
suggests  what  is  to  come;  through  Mendoza  he 
finds  a few  Indians,  ineradicable  traces  of  the  Span- 
ish conquest,  and  many  marks  of  early  Argentine 
history;  on  the  plateaus  he  sees  the  Italian  or 
scarcely  changed  Russian,  wild  grasses  and  nature 
side  by  side  with  high-bred  cattle  and  wheat ; prim- 
itiveness and  complexity  alternate,  the  former 
giving  way  by  degrees  to  the  latter,  until,  over  a 
road-bed  perfect  in  construction,  rock-ballasted, 
steel-bridged,  in  a railway  carriage  as  luxuriously 
appointed  as  a twentieth  century  Pullman,  he  rolls 
into  a city  as  new,  as  fresh  and  as  fascinating  as 
present-day  Paris. 

Buenos  Aires  has  few  equals  in  Europe.  This 
fact  is  the  more  remarkable  when  it  is  realized 
that  it  had  none  of  the  natural  advantages  pertain- 
ing to  Rio  de  Janeiro  or  to  San  Francisco.  It  is 
singularly  like  Chicago  in  situation  and  growth, 
but  can  not  be  compared  to  it  in  any  other  way. 
The  great  attraction  of  the  city  is,  as  its  name  im- 


Street  Scene  in  Mendoza — Argentina 


Public  Advertising — Rio 


BUENOS  AIRES 


I4I 

plies,  its  climate,  for  the  heat  of  summer  is  merely 
a mild  warmth,  the  cold  of  winter  is  a gentle  frost, 
and  its  pampero  a good-natured  blizzard. 

The  people  of  Buenos  Aires  are  a wonderful 
people;  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a race  of 
Europe  or  Asia,  of  South  America,  or  even  of 
Africa,  not  represented.  Thousands  of  Spanish, 
Italians,  Portuguese  and  French,  hundreds  of  Ger- 
mans, Russians  and  Syrians  find  refuge  there. 
Nearly  every  tongue  is  spoken,  nearly  every  lan- 
guage has  its  newspaper,  expressing  popular  ideas 
and  conveying  general  knowledge  in  the  idiom — 
and  all  are  busy. 

It  is  not  the  indolent  city  of  the  tropics,  but  a 
place  of  enterprises,  ambitions,  and  though  re- 
strained by  the  Latin  love  of  leisure,  nowhere  in 
the  world  does  one  find  greater  evidence  of  indus- 
try. The  shops  are  full  of  purchasers,  factories 
are  multiplying,  young  girls  become  active  compet- 
itors of  men,  and  the  older  habits  and  customs  of 
Europe  yield  to  a broader  cosmopolitanism.  Love 
of  the  city  is  the  danger  in  Argentina,  because 
there  is  only  one  real  city  there,  only  one  true  cen- 
ter of  political  or  national  life,  and  that  city  is 
Buenos  Aires.  She  has  1,000,000  inhabitants,  more 
than  one-sixth  of  the  population  of  the  entire  re- 
public— a disproportion  verging  on  disaster.  In- 
stead of  a gradual  change  for  the  better  in  this 
respect,  the  rest  of  the  country  seems  to  become 
more  provincial.  The  city  contains  the  culture  of 


142 


ARGENTINA 


the  nation,  and  has  not,  as  other  nations  have,  other 
millions  at  her  doors  from  which  to  recruit  her 
strength. 

There  is  an  arrogance  at  present  in  the  capital 
which,  let  us  hope,  will  soften  as  time  goes  on. 
There  is  no  great  desire  on  the  part  of  immigrants 
to  go  out  into  the  vast  spaces  beyond,  because  work 
is  plentiful  here  and  wages  high.  A material  pros- 
perity has  belittled  the  value  of  slow-going  virtues, 
and  any  way  to  make  money  is  supposed  to  be  the 
acme  of  Americanism.  Here  one  finds  the  landed 
rich,  drunk  with  their  own  wealth,  displaying  on  as 
lavish  a scale  as  in  New  York,  and  an  aristocracy 
spending  money  like  water  or  devising  means  for 
throwing  it  away.  Culture  is  confined  to  a few, 
and  taste  and  refinement  are  supposed  to  be  im- 
ported along  with  other  fashions.  If  money  is  spent 
lavishly  it  is  not  always  spent  foolishly,  but  often 
for  the  purpose  of  improving  what  they  already 
have;  they  wish  to  improve,  and  the  cost  of  a thing 
or  an  idea  is  no  item  for  consideration,  if  some- 
thing is  to  be  gained  thereby.  This  makes  Buenos 
Aires  one  of  the  great  markets  of  the  world.  Any 
one  with  something  to  sell  will  find  a purchaser  if 
his  article  has  merit.  Tools,  machinery  of  all  kinds, 
utensils  for  all  work,  fill  the  warehouses,  and  the 
newest  contrivance  is  eagerly  introduced  in  the  city 
or  on  an  estate,  and  finds  its  way  even  to  the  re- 
cently arrived  colonist  in  the  farthest  interior. 
French  fashions  naturally  prevail,  but  the  best  ar- 


BUSINESS  CONDITIONS  143 

tide  takes  the  money.  If  England  has  the  greatest 
commerce  it  is  because  she  has  most  money  in- 
vested; her  citizens  naturally  buy  from  home  pro- 
ducers or  from  dealers  long  established.  But  it  is 
not  a city  of  habit;  the  resident  has  been  there  such 
a short  time  that  nationalism  or  patriotism  is  a 
minor  quantity.  Frankly  you  can  not  find  a na- 
tional trait;  it  is  either  Spanish  or  Italian,  French 
or  German  or  English;  but  Argentinian — nay, 
there  is  no  such  word. 

In  considering  Buenos  Aires  and  its  markets,  it 
must  be  remembered  that,  if  the  purchasing  desire 
is  large,  the  purchasing  multitude  is  small.  For 
comparison  take  New  York;  an  article  sold  there, 
becoming  popular,  finds  a market  among  70,000,- 
000  others  in  the  interior,  with  equal  purchasing 
and  consuming  power;  but  an  article  sold  in 
Buenos  Aires,  even  if  it  went  from  one  end  of  the 
country  to  the  other,  would  soon  exhaust  its  market, 
because  there  are  only  4,000,000  more  consumers  in 
the  entire  republic,  and  four-fifths  of  these  have 
neither  the  tastes  nor  the  requirements  above  the 
southern  negro.  Buenos  Aires  is  Argentina. 

In  this  seething  mass  of  activity,  the  politicians 
and  statesmen  are  working  night  and  day.  The  pol- 
iticians are  the  counterparts  of  our  own  intimates, 
with  more  grace,  more  tact,  more  enlightened  man- 
ners, all  covering  the  same  delectable  motive  which 
we  call  graft.  They  have  had  no  scruples  in  plung- 
ing the  nation  into  an  immense  foreign  debt,  so 


i44 


ARGENTINA 


long  as  they  could  line  their  own  purses.  I found 
there  the  genus  we  recognize  in  the  United  States; 
whether  they  are  in  office  or  merely  lobbyists,  they 
are  brothers  of  the  senators  or  corporation  lawyers 
or  trust  magnates  to  whom  the  people  are  a negli- 
gible factor.  The  statesmen  are  patriots,  zealous 
nationalists,  who,  when  they  incur  a foreign  loan, 
honestly  intend  to  repay.  They  are  giving  their 
brains,  their  energies  and  their  manhood  to  the 
cause  of  making  Argentina  one  of  the  mightiest 
nations  of  the  earth.  They  are  having  a hard  strug- 
gle, because  the  spirit  of  the  time  is  not  serious. 

But  a still  greater  obstacle  to  greatness  is  found 
in  that  shadow  of  industrialism,  state  socialism. 
Argentina  has  arrived  at  a stage  in  which  the  gov- 
ernment is  more  centralized  than  their  early  Fed- 
eralists could  have  dreamed  when  they  fought 
their  revolutions  against  the  dominance  of  Buenos 
Aires.  Their  democracy  has  in  it  much  more  of 
European  color  than  we  are  willing  to  admit  is  ad- 
visable, although  in  practice  we  encourage  an  im- 
perialism which  frightens  the  advocates  of  South 
American  liberty.  However,  clearly  defined  as 
a problem  confronting  the  immediate  govern- 
ment of  Argentina  is  the  imminence  of  socialism, 
which  is  more  threatening  here  than  in  any  other 
part  of  South  America.  This  is  due  to  two  causes: 
one  is  the  unrest  brought  over  from  Spain,  Italy 
and  France,  whose  agitators,  unable  or  unwilling 
to  find  a home  in  the  older  country,  have  rushed  to 


SOCIALISM 


H5 

the  newer  world  to  spread  their  propaganda  of 
social  revolution;  the  other  is  the  fertile  industrial 
soil  on  which  they  sow  their  theories.  The  country 
is  materially  prosperous,  every  one  finds  work,  and 
the  demand  for  labor  is  beyond  the  supply;  but  the 
cost  of  living  is  rapidly  increasing,  the  enormous 
fortunes  in  the  hands  of  a few  seem  to  thrust  into 
contempt  those  who  have  been  so  unlucky  as  to 
have  nothing  to  do  but  work,  and  the  old-fashioned 
harmony  between  aristocrat  and  peasant  is  split 
into  the  discord  of  capital  against  labor. 

This  shows  itself  in  unions,  strikes,  disturbances 
in  the  trades,  in  all  the  various  ways  by  which  dis- 
content rises  to  the  surface.  This  discontent  is  not 
altogether  unreasonable,  for  nowhere  is  there  more 
patent  disparity  between  wealth  in  the  hands  of  a 
few  and  toil  of  the  many  to  produce  it.  Those  who 
came  early,  in  Argentina’s  boom,  were  fortunate  in 
securing  the  land,  and  now  the  land  takes  care  of 
them.  They  have  attained  in  one  generation  the 
luxury  of  the  unearned  increment,  where  it  has 
taken  three  with  us,  and  our  favored  ones  have  a 
greater  task  to  hold  on  to  it.  Besides  this,  their 
political  methods  are  even  more  corrupt  than  our 
own,  although  the  stage  of  demagogy  is  not 
reached,  for  the  vote  is  either  coerced  or  purchased. 

The  English  keep  out  of  politics  and  give  their 
energies  to  finance.  There  are,  indeed,  English 
newspapers  in  the  capital,  but  they  serve  chiefly  as 
a link  between  the  new  country  and  the  old.  The 


146 


ARGENTINA 


press  is  built  upon  French  models  rather  than 
Spanish  or  English,  and  therefore  has  more  snap 
to  it  than  one  finds  in  Spain;  though  it  is  a ques- 
tion whether  it  is  more  moral  than  its  prototype  and 
whether  it  directs  public  opinion  as  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  press  does.  They  have  not  the  serious 
monthly  reviews  of  the  northern  nations;  the  week- 
lies or  monthlies  are  largely  literary  or  artistic,  and 
public  opinion  is  consequently  left  to  the  emotions 
or  to  the  superstitions  of  the  moment.  One  of  their 
foremost  scholars  told  me  that  as  yet  there  is  no 
literature  native  to  Argentina.  A few  writers  of 
fiction,  poetry  or  history  have  appeared,  but  as  a 
rule  European  literature  predominates,  and  a local 
writer  must  receive  European  approval  before  he 
is  recognized  at  home. 

Fortunately  the  people  are  not  slaves  to  alcohol; 
in  fact,  the  Argentinos  are  among  the  most  abstemi- 
ous of  the  Latins  and  therefore  do  not  fall  easy 
victims  to  that  crudest  form  of  degeneracy. 

A friend  said  to  me : “It  is  a marvelous  country; 
five  years  ago  I had  one  opinion,  to-day  I am  not 
sure  what  conclusions  can  be  drawn.  You  ought  to 
leave  at  once  before  you  discover  something  to 
modify  what  now  seems  clear.”  It  was  good  advice. 

I went  away  convinced  that  there  are  two  forces 
at  work  tending  to  nationalize  the  raw  ingredients 
of  population  pouring  into  Argentina — the  ambi- 
tion to  rival  or  to  surpass  Chile,  already  behind  in 
the  race  for  modern  recognition,  and  Brazil,  whose 


ENGLAND’S  INFLUENCE  147 

unwieldy  bulk  is  slower  to  respond  to  outside  in- 
fluences; and,  second,  an  ambition  to  become  the 
leader  in  South  America,  as  the  United  States  is 
the  leader  in  North  America.  Argentina  is  big  and 
lusty,  but  at  present  there  is  a self-satisfaction  not 
yet  based  upon  a solid  foundation,  which  would  not 
stand  the  test  of  adversity  or  attack;  but  this  spirit 
of  rivalry  is  a subconscious  precursor  of  future 
strength.  Another  conviction  is  drawn  from  this : 
before  the  century  is  over,  though  perhaps  not  be- 
fore decades  have  passed,  Argentina  will  be  our 
competitor.  The  land  is  there;  with  one-third  the 
area  it  has  two-thirds  our  productive  capacity  in 
food  products.  The  money,  the  brains  and  the 
muscle  of  Europe  are  as  surely  hers,  till  she  can 
create  her  own,  as  they  were  ours  till  we  no  longer 
needed  them.  England  is  so  strongly  intrenched  in 
Argentina  that  it  would  mean  a disastrous  set-back 
of  fifty  years  to  offend  her.  But  whatever  may  be 
the  present,  the  future  of  Argentina  is  assured. 
Land  from  which  200,000,000  people  can  be  nour- 
ished is  the  vital  franchise  of  the  twentieth  century. 
To  ignore  this  or  to  consider  as  insignificant  such 
an  evident  fact,  is  to  forget  what  we  once  were, 
and  what  we  have  become.  Their  problem  is  to 
develop  the  unoccupied  land  already  at  hand;  our 
problem  is  to  develop  the  people  already  here  and 
increasing  faster  than  we  can  supply  them  with 
land. 


URUGUAYAN  STATISTICS 


Area,  72,210  square  miles.  Population,  1,000,000;  per 
square  mile,  13.5. 

Foreign  debt,  $121,455,747 ; per  capita,  $118.70. 

Money — Gold  standard,  fixed  exchange.  Currency : All 
foreign  gold  coins,  exchange  fixed  by  law ; silver  and  paper, 
peso;  silver  fractional  coins. 

Trade  Statistics  (1903) — Exports:  Total,  $38,640,000;  to 
the  United  States,  4.63  per  cent.;  England,  9.15  per  cent.; 
Germany,  11.30  per  cent.  Imports:  Total,  $25,958,000; 
from  the  United  States,  8.48  per  cent.;  England,  21.60  per 
cent.;  Germany,  13.60  per  cent. 

Investments  in  the  coun- 
try : Of  English  money, 
$300,000,000 ; German,  $2,- 
500,000 ; American,  $500,- 
000. 

Miles  of  railway,  1,220; 
government  owned,  none ; 
subsidized,  720 ; unsubsi- 
dized, 500. 

Capital,  Montevideo ; 
population,  300,000. 

Army,  5,000  ; navy,  none. 


FRANCE 

Area,  207,054  square  miles.  Popula- 
tion, 39,000,000;  per  square  mile,  188. 

Army,  532,593  officers  and  men  (ex- 
clusive of  reserves) ; navy,  604,000 
tons. 

National  debt,  $6,092,053,500.00;  per 
capita,  $156.25. 

Total  imports  (1905),  $902,056,000.00; 
total  exports  (1905),  $919,013,000.00. 


1 48 


CHAPTER  SEVEN 


URUGUAY 

GEOGRAPHY 

Uruguay,  the  smallest  South  American  republic, 
with  only  72,210  square  miles,  is  not  quite  twice  as 
large  as  Cuba  or  Pennsylvania.  It  is  the  Banda 
Oriental,  so  called  because,  after  the  Uruguayan 
struggle  for  freedom  from  control  by  the  Brazilian 
monarchy,  it  obtained  its  independence;  lying  east 
of  Argentina  it  was  called  Oriental  to  distinguish 
it  from  its  western  neighbor.  It  is  the  buffer  state 
between  Argentina  and  Brazil,  to  each  of  which  it 
once  belonged  and  with  whose  destinies  it  must  be 
inseparably  bound. 

Uruguay  lies  altogether  within  the  temperate 
zone,  between  35  degrees  and  30  degrees  5 minutes 
south  latitude,  the  meridian  of  longitude  of  Mont- 
evideo being  about  that  of  the  little  island  of  St. 
Pierre  whence  the  French  cable  starts,  off  the  coast 
of  Newfoundland.  On  the  north  Uruguay  is 
bounded  by  the  Brazilian  state  of  Rio  Grande  do 
Sul,  on  the  west  (across  the  Uruguay  River)  by 
Argentine  Corrientes  and  Entre  Rios,  on  the  south 

149 


URUGUAY 


150 

by  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  and  on  the  cast  by  the  At- 
lantic Ocean.  The  perimeter  measures  1,075  miles, 
of  which  625  are  watered  by  the  Ocean,  the  Plate 
and  Uruguay  Rivers,  and  450  are  arbitrated  land- 
boundaries  against  Brazil. 

Within  this  irregular  quadrilateral  can  be  found 
some  of  the  finest  land  in  Christendom.  There  are 
a few  so-called  mountains,  but  the  Spanish  love  of 
emphasis  will  account  for  the  word ; they  are  at  best 
only  rugged  hills,  serving  to  add  picturesqueness 
to  the  landscape  and  to  give  protection  to  the  inter- 
lying  valleys.  Not  an  acre  is  sterile  on  account  of 
climate,  since  the  extremes  of  heat  or  cold,  which 
often  bring  hardships  to  the  best  of  farmers  and 
ranchmen,  are  absent;  some  of  the  soil  is  marshy, 
some  rocky,  most  of  it  is  fertile,  as  in  our  own  agri- 
cultural states,  but  it  is  good  land,  susceptible  of 
cultivation  the  whole  year  through.  Cattle  need  no 
protection  from  the  weather,  and  it  is  all  accessible 
to  the  cultivator  because  no  barrier  interposes  be- 
tween the  fields  and  the  sea.  Greatly  facilitating 
transportation,  besides  conducing  to  irrigation  and 
drainage,  are  the  large  rivers  of  the  country;  the 
La  Plata  is  practically  a lake,  offering  entrance  and 
anchorage  at  Montevideo  and  Colonia  to  ocean 
vessels  sailing  farther  inland  to  Buenos  Aires,  Ro- 
sario and  even  to  Parana;  the  Uruguay,  forming 
the  western  frontier,  is  navigable  its  length  along 
the  republic;  and  the  Rio  Negro,  which  empties 
into  the  Uruguay,  bisects  the  country  from  north- 


LAND 


151 

east  to  southwest,  furnishes  local  steamer  traffic  for 
most  of  its  length,  and  simpler  communication  for 
miles  farther  up.  The  Uruguay  may  be  compared 
to  the  Ohio  from  Pittsburg  down,  the  Rio  Negro 
to  the  Cumberland,  and  the  little  republic  thus 
becomes  another  Kentucky. 

There  is  an  unsubstantial  claim  that  gold  and 
other  precious  minerals  are  found  in  recesses  of 
the  hills,  but  the  fever  for  mining  is  not  danger- 
ously high ; coal  has  been  located,  but  the  mines  are 
insignificant;  iron  is  there  but  not  yet  in  commer- 
cial quantities.  The  chief,  the  enduring  and  the 
final  industry  must  be  agriculture,  although  the 
tendency  has  been  altogether  away  from  grains  and 
toward  cattle-raising.  Only  one-sixty-sixth  of  the 
land  is  planted  to  grain,  although  it  yields  such 
good  crops  that  even  the  Iowa  farmer  would  be 
pleased,  and  the  consuming  market  is  reached  by 
a short  haul;  the  remainder  of  the  land  is  devoted 
to  cattle.  All  the  land  is  parceled  out  and  appro- 
priated, but  it  is  by  no  means  all  under  cultivation. 
The  native-born  own  the  larger  half,  but  the  Eng- 
lish possess  two-sixtieths,  the  French  three-sixti- 
eths, Brazilians  six-sixtieths,  Italians  and  Spanish 
each  eight-sixtieths.  There  are  numerous  colonies, 
but  the  colonizing  habit,  so  strong  in  Argentina 
and  once  excessively  encouraged  in  Brazil,  is  not 
a feature  of  Uruguayan  settlement.  It  is  confined 
to  the  older  known  shores  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  in 
the  department  of  Colonia.  When  once  the  unrest 


152 


URUGUAY 


of  the  country  is  overcome  and  railways  reach  into 
untraveled  areas,  so  that  foreigners  may  attempt 
some  crops  besides  cattle,  Uruguay  will  expand  its 
grain  area  enormously  and  become,  acre  for  acre, 
an  adjunct  to  Argentina  in  the  bread-producing  in- 
dustry of  the  world. 

The  ports  of  the  republic  are  not  numerous. 
Montevideo  is  one  of  the  best  harbors  on  the  At- 
lantic, and,  when  it  is  completely  modernized,  will 
be  more  than  a rival  of  Buenos  Aires;  Maldonado 
on  the  Atlantic  is  of  moderate  use,  and  Colonia, 
farther  west,  is  used  by  vessels  of  twenty-two  foot 
draft;  but  Uruguay  is  not  lined  with  natural  har- 
bors like  Brazil,  because  the  coast  is  too  flat. 


CHAPTER  EIGHT 


URUGUAY 

HISTORY 

The  earliest  history  of  Uruguay  is  coincident 
with  the  discovery  of  the  La  Plata  in  1516.  Solis 
lost  his  life  on  the  island  of  Martin  Garcia,  and  is 
commemorated  in  the  beautiful  theater  at  Monte- 
video. The  Spaniards  did  not  have  an  easy  time  in 
this  region,  as  the  aboriginal  Indians  here  were 
pluckier  fighters  than  those  in  Argentina.  Ad- 
vance beyond  the  coast  was  therefore  unsuccessful. 
Besides,  the  Jesuits  from  Paraguay,  who  since  1600 
had  carried  on  missions  among  the  Indian  tribes 
farther  north,  opposed  a subtle  barrier  in  what  is 
now  Argentine  Misiones  and  Brazilian  Rio 
Grande  do  Sul,  and  so  hermetically  closed  this 
portion  of  South  America  that  even  the  adventur- 
ous gold-seeker  kept  away,  especially  when  he  had 
concluded  that  but  little  gold  was  to  be  found 
there,  after  all!  Montevideo  was  founded  infor- 
mally, as  an  adjunct  to  Buenos  Aires,  in  1724,  but 
grew  slowly.  In  1807  it  was  held  by  the  British  in 
their  attack  upon  Buenos  Aires,  but  was  soon 

i53 


*54 


URUGUAY 


abandoned.  This  shuttlecock  habit  made  the 
Uruguayans  accustomed  to  foreign  control,  and 
consequently  they  were  laggard  in  accepting  the 
republican  spirit  that  spread  over  South  America. 
Argentina  made  her  first  declaration  of  independ- 
ence in  1810,  but  Uruguay  waited  till  1814,  when 
Montevideo,  coerced  by  Artigas  in  Buenos  Aires, 
escaped  from  Spain.  Still  subject  to  the  caprice  of 
foreign  domination,  she  belonged  to  Argentina  till 
1821,  when  Brazil  proved  the  stronger  and  ruled 
her  till  1825.  Then  the  Banda  Oriental  revolted 
against  outsiders,  and  after  three  years  of  struggle 
won  a real  independence  as  a distinct  nation,  in 
1828. 

On  the  eighteenth  of  July,  1830,  a formal  con- 
stitution was  adopted,  under  which,  with  some 
modifications,  the  nation  has  since  been  governed. 
The  early  fights  against  stalwart  Indians  had  made 
the  settlers  warlike,  the  frequent  and  threatening 
changes  of  rulers  had  made  them  accustomed  to  an 
unstable  administration,  and  the  militarism  of  this 
method  had  encouraged  a love  of  power  on  one 
side  and  a restiveness  on  the  other.  The  result  has 
been  a history  of  revolution,  or  alteration  in  gov- 
ernment, if  you  please,  second  only  to  that  of  Ven- 
ezuela. It  began  before  the  ink  on  the  constitution 
was  dry.  Rivera,  who  on  short  order  displaced  the 
first  president,  an  Argentine  war-hero,  was  a 
gaucho,  and  his  first  activity  was  to  destroy  the  In- 
dians, who  kept  settlers  from  the  smiling  meadows 


EARLY  UNREST 


155 


of  the  interior.  He  ruled  till  1835,  by  which  time 
his  rivals  were  strong  enough  to  dispossess  him. 
One  Oribe,  president,  secured  the  sympathy  of 
Rosas,  the  dictator  of  Argentina,  and  captured 
Montevideo.  Rivera  retreated  with  Argentine 
malcontents  to  Brazil,  but  in  1838  came  back  vic- 
torious, and,  when  the  French  were  blockading 
Buenos  Aires,  he  entered  upon  his  second  presi- 
dency. Then  Oribe  had  his  innings,  again  worry- 
ing Uruguay  till  1842  when  he  secured  a firm  hold, 
but  could  not  master  Montevideo.  Oribe  was  a 
cruel,  selfish  man,  hated  by  the  people;  the  nation 
dreaded  him,  the  lovers  of  liberty,  of  whom  Gari- 
baldi was  then  one,  detested  him.  In  1851,  when 
the  country  was  practically  ruined  and  Montevideo 
desolated  by  a nine  years’  siege,  when  England, 
France  and  Brazil  were  determined  to  destroy 
Oribe,  Rivera  again  defeated  him. 

From  1851  to  1854  there  was  some  pretense  of 
peace.  The  European  nations,  aided  by  the  United 
States,  had  forced  the  free  navigation  of  the  Para- 
na, commerce  was  encouraged  and  the  little  coun- 
try began  to  blossom  as  nature  intended  she  should. 
English,  French,  Spanish,  and  even  German  mi- 
gration turned  thither,  bringing  money  and  brains; 
the  fertile  interior  was  occupied  and  an  impetus 
given  to  production  and  business  that  has  never 
been  entirely  lost. 

In  1854  Flores  was  president,  but  the  recurring 
revolutionary  habit  made  such  a game  of  ins  and 


!S6 


URUGUAY 


outs  until  1863  that  the  historian  can  chronicle  lit- 
tle else.  In  1 859  a treaty  deserves  notice ; by  it  Bra- 
zil and  Argentina,  in  case  these  two  countries 
wished  to  engage  in  their  own  hostilities,  guaran- 
teed national  independence  to  Uruguay,  making 
of  her  a South  American  Belgium. 

From  i860  can  be  traced  that  political  feud  be- 
tween the  Colorados,  mysteriously  called  Liberals, 
and  the  Blancos,  quite  as  mysteriously  called  Con- 
servatives, which  has  racked  the  country  and  na- 
tion for  two  generations,  often  separating  father 
from  son,  lover  from  sweetheart,  given  occasion  to 
both  Brazil  and  Argentina,  officially  and  unoffi- 
cially, to  take  part  in  this  internecine  strife,  and 
retarded  the  normal  growth  by  fifty  years.  To-day 
it  can  be  seen  in  almost  as  horrid  a form  as  it  was 
in  1865. 

In  i860  Pereira,  who  had  been  president,  was 
succeeded  by  Berro,  a Blanco.  Berro  had  good  in- 
tentions but  lacked  force ; he  so  wished  to  conciliate 
every  one  that  he  offended  both  England  and 
France  over  the  loan  obligations.  Italy,  with  Eng- 
land, threatened  violence,  to  avoid  which  Berro 
compromised  the  dignity  of  the  nation.  His  weak- 
ness led  to  measures  of  force  to  regain  his  power; 
he  suppressed  the  newspapers  and  arbitrarily 
imprisoned  some  of  his  personal  enemies.  The  con- 
sequence was  that  in  1863  Venancio  Flores,  a Colo- 
rado, aided  by  Argentina  and  abetted  by  Brazil, 
seized  the  government.  The  nominal  successor  of 


A Country  Village — Uruguay 


A Country  Village — Brazil 


Park  Scene — Montevideo 


WAR  WITH  PARAGUAY 


*57 


Berro,  Aguirre  (1864),  though  dispossessed,  would 
not  stay  crushed;  he  maintained  one  government 
and  Flores  another.  Flores,  the  Colorado,  had 
back  of  him  Argentina  and  Brazil;  Berro,  the 
Blanco  back  of  Aguirre,  turned  for  sympathy  and 
support  to  Paraguay,  where  lived  and  ruled  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  military  dictators  of  South 
America — Lopez.  Lopez  upheld  Aguirre,  at  the 
same  time  nursing  grievances  of  his  own  against 
Argentina  and  Brazil;  so  he  determined  to  open 
hostilities.  The  war  of  destruction  was  on. 

From  1865  to  1870  it  was  constant  strife,  al- 
though it  must  be  said  that  Flores  tried  to  help  the 
material  progress  of  his  country:  he  encouraged 
railways  and  granted  concessions;  by  his  support 
the  cable  to  Buenos  Aires  was  laid,  and  numerous 
colonies,  unfrightened  by  war  or  pestilence  (the 
cholera  scourged  Montevideo  in  1867),  found  a 
cordial  welcome.  Commerce  increased  and  public 
buildings  were  finished.  The  civil  law  code  was 
published;  and  just  when  Flores,  in  1868,  might 
have  abandoned  dictatorship  to  become  a constitu- 
tional ruler,  he  was  assassinated  and  the  Blanco 
party,  accused  of  the  crime,  had  its  back  broken 
by  this  undiplomatic  trick. 

Owing  to  the  final  victory  over  Paraguay,  where 
Lopez  had  been  killed,  his  army  shattered  and  the 
nation  deprived  of  almost  all  its  male  citizens  by 
the  destructive  forces  of  Brazil  and  Argentina,  the 
Colorados  were  now  in  the  saddle;  and,  with  one 


URUGUAY 


158 

exception,  every  revolution  since  Flores’  time  has 
been  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Blancos  (Con- 
servatives) to  unseat  them;  incidentally  it  meant 
a fight  for  the  spoils  of  office. 

There  were  a few  presidents  and  revolutions  un- 
til 1870,  when  President  Batlle  (Colorado)  took 
office,  serving  till  1873.  Then  more  revolutions  and 
the  election  of  Ellauri,  who  acted  as  president  in 
1874  and  was  really  a good  man;  but  a revolt  in 
1874  deposed  him,  just  as  he  saw  the  opening  of 
cable  communication  with  Europe.  The  inter- 
regnum lasted  until  May,  1875,  when  Varela  was 
elected.  Financial  affairs  had  now  become  most 
distressing;  foreign  bonds  were  unpaid,  there  was 
no  system  in  government,  and  confusion  was  mas- 
querading under  a republican  banner.  In  March, 
1876,  Latorre  proclaimed  himself  a full  dictator 
and  a reign  of  terror  began  commensurate  with  the 
Rosas’  administration  in  Argentina.  Yet  Latorre 
did  some  good  and  had  real  ambitions  to  restore  to 
the  nation  the  semblance  of  a democracy.  In  1879 
he  was  elected  constitutional  president,  but  in 
March,  1880,  he  resigned  with  the  bitter  cry  that 
Uruguay  was  ungovernable.  In  May,  1880,  there 
was  another  coup  d'etat ; newspapers  were  sup- 
pressed, public  free  speech  was  denied,  and  chronic 
revolution  again  broke  out. 

Santos  was  elected  president  in  1882  and  em- 
broiled the  country  in  a quarrel  with  Italy  over  the 
maltreatment  of  resident  Italians.  But  he  accom- 


NATIONAL  CORRUPTION  159 


plished  something,  for  with  his  support  civil  law 
was  established — a great  step  in  advance  for  a 
Roman  Catholic  country.  Afterward  this  release 
from  priestcraft  was  perverted  into  subjection  to, 
and  personal  supervision  by,  a president.  Santos 
lasted  till  1886,  when  he  was  killed  and  General 
Castro  led  a revolution. 

In  November,  1886,  Tajes  became  constitutional 
president  and  remained  in  office  until  March,  1890. 
He  was  a godsend  to  the  country  and  inspired  such 
confidence  that  foreign  capital  once  more  came  in 
with  reasonable  security  for  investment.  His  suc- 
cessor, Herrera,  could  not,  however,  overcome  the 
habit  of  peculation,  misconduct  and  financial 
short-sightedness,  so  that  in  1891  debts  were  unpaid 
and  chaos  approached  on  full-spread  wings.  This 
lasted  till  1896,  corruption  being  about  the  only 
mark  of  office.  It  was  an  era  of  distressing  decay. 
In  1897  there  was  an  insurrection;  fraud  was  so 
evident  in  elections,  property  rights  so  little  re- 
spected and  the  nation  so  crushed,  that  in  looking 
back  a scant  ten  years  one  wonders,  not  so  much 
what  the  state  must  have  been,  but  rather  how  the 
prosperous  condition  of  to-day  could  have  resulted 
from  one  so  apparently  hopeless. 

In  1897,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  August,  the  na- 
tional holiday,  President  Borda  was  assassinated, 
and  Cuestos  came  into  office.  He  ruled  well,  gave 
honest  elections  and  tried  to  inspire  a respect  for 
government  founded  upon  something  other  than 


i6o 


URUGUAY 


militarism.  The  army  felt  hurt  at  this  and  in  1899 
the  officers  revolted,  to  their  discredit. 

Since  then  a regard  for  the  constitution  has  been 
growing,  and  the  suffrage  has  really  been  respected 
and  exercised  in  a way  to  prove  that  not  many  years 
must  pass  before  the  ballot,  in  Uruguay  as  well  as 
in  Germany,  is  really  the  court  of  best  and  last  ap- 
peal. In  1903  the  Blancos  made  their  last  serious 
effort  to  revive  the  lost  cause.  Although  for  some 
months  it  was  a severe  internal  war,  which  dis- 
tressed the  country  measurably,  it  was  ended  by  the 
triumph  of  the  government.  The  leader,  Aparicio 
Saravia,  was  killed,  his  army  driven  over  the  fron- 
tier into  Brazil  or  Argentina,  and  a security  in 
good  government  given  which,  it ‘is  hoped,  will  be 
strengthened  as  time  goes  on. 

How  the  people  have  developed  within  the  last 
decade  might  be  traced  by  examining  the  Orientals 
as  they  are  to-day,  and  discovering  what  promise 
for  the  future  is  to  be  found  in  present  conditions. 
The  political  unrest  of  the  country  draws  the  atten- 
tion to  the  idea  of  liberty,  so  prevalent  in  South 
America,  and  to  the  ignorance  or  disregard  of 
constitutional  government  which  marks  such  con- 
trast between  the  Latin  and  Teutonic  mind.  A 
study  of  the  people  will  demonstrate  how  slowly 
but  surely  they  are  moving  from  the  shifting  sands 
of  irresponsible  freedom  to  the  firmer  ground  of 
material  and  industrial  peace. 


CHAPTER  NINE 


URUGUAY 

THE  GOVERNMENT 

The  Constitution  of  this  elective  republic  is  sim- 
ilar, in  many  of  its  details,  to  that  of  the  United 
States  of  North  America,  and  is  the  working  basis 
of  a nation  consisting  of  nineteen  departments  cor- 
responding to  our  territories. 

The  three  great  branches  are  preserved,  execu- 
tive, legislative  and  judicial.  The  president  and  the 
superior  court  are  chosen  by  an  electoral  college 
composed  of  the  senators  and  deputies  (representa- 
tives). The  president  serves  four  years  and  is  not 
eligible  for  direct  reelection;  his  power  is  exten- 
sive, as  he  appoints  the  heads  of  the  departments 
(states)  who  are  thus  directly  dependent  upon  him 
instead  of  upon  the  voters ; but  the  judiciary  of  each 
state,  and  an  administrative  committee  for  local 
administrative  affairs,  are  chosen  by  popular  vote. 
The  president  has  also  in  his  hands  various  ap- 
pointive positions  which  increase  his  authority;  he 
also  exercises,  although  not  always  within  legal 
bounds,  a control  over  such  matters  as  civil  mar- 

161 


URUGUAY 


162 

riages,  and  his  influence  extends  into  more  per- 
sonal matters. 

The  senators,  one  from  each  departamento,  are 
elected  by  popular  vote,  but  correspond  in  other 
respects  to  our  own  higher  body. 

Deputies  (representatives),  like  our  own  con- 
gressmen, are  elected  by  popular  vote  and  take  part 
with  the  Senate  in  the  selection  of  the  president, 
who  need  not  be  from  among  their  own  number. 
There  are  at  present  seventy  deputies,  one  for  each 
3,000  inhabitants  who  can  read  and  write. 

Uruguay  is  organically  allied  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  and  Montevideo  is  the  residence 
of  an  archbishop  who  has  a voice  in  government; 
but  constitutionally  there  is  no  restriction  upon  any 
religion. 

The  Cabinet,  members  of  which  are  appointed 
by  the  president,  includes  five  branches:  State,  Fi- 
nance, War  and  Navy,  External  Relations,  and 
Industry  (“ Fomento  ” meaning  promotion  of  busi- 
ness) . 

The  Army  is  of  good  fighting  caliber,  and  pre- 
serves the  reputation  for  bravery  and  discipline 
which  it  acquired  during  years  of  internal  and  ex- 
ternal warfare.  Unfortunately  the  repeated  mili- 
tary pronunciamentos  and  dictatorships,  which 
used  the  army  to  enforce  unconstitutional  demands, 
have  disturbed  that  loyalty  to  country  which  we 
expect  in  a national  army;  and  in  its  place  there 
has  been  engrafted  an  obedience  to  a chief  general 


INSTITUTIONS 


163 

in  command,  and  a feeling  that  on  the  army  rests 
all  authority.  The  army  has  a judicial  code  of  its 
own,  apart  from  its  civil  code.  It  fancies  itself 
above  the  constitution  and  that  by  its  power  govern- 
ments can  be  made  or  broken;  in  fact,  the  army  of- 
ficers, tired  of  waiting  for  presidential  favors  or 
legislative  emoluments,  have  often  revolted  to 
show  their  strength.  But  in  recent  years  the  opin- 
ion has  grown  that  the  army  has  other  duties,  scien- 
tific, hygienic  and  disciplinary,  far  higher  than  the 
hatching  of  coups  d’etat , and  that  the  day  may  not 
be  far  distant  when  this  really  fine  body  of  men — 
5,000  active,  80,000  militia — will  consider  its 
honor  satisfied  by  becoming  a dignified  branch  of 
the  administration.  The  navy  is  as  yet  unborn — 
a proyecto,  like  many  a dream  of  the  Oriental 
mind.  It  is  said  that  there  is  a gunboat  and  some 
officers. 

The  post-office,  a national  monopoly,  is  efficient 
and  active.  So  far  as  I can  judge,  it  is  quite  as  com- 
prehensive and  trustworthy  as  our  own,  although, 
owing  to  lack  of  railways,  it  can  not  penetrate  so 
frequently  into  outlying  areas  nor  serve  so  rapidly 
those  within  reach.  The  telegraph  is  partly  na- 
tional and  partly  private;  both  national  and  private 
lines  reach  in  any  direction  where  a settlement  is 
found,  and  the  service  is  as  accurate  and  attentive 
as  either  of  our  own  private  corporations.  The 
slovenliness,  which  is  so  often  criticized  by  South 
Americans  visiting  us  and  compelled  to  use  that  in- 


164 


URUGUAY 


digenous  animal  called  a telegraph  messenger  boy, 
is  quite  unknown  in  Uruguay.  The  private  compa- 
nies work  in  conjunction  with  the  national  lines 
and  offer  through  the  Atlantic  cables  more  direct 
communication  with  the  rest  of  the  world. 

Within  the  country  are  1,220  miles  of  railway, 
all  built  and  owned  by  English  capital,  all  thor- 
oughly equipped,  and  managed  with  a care  that 
might  make  us  pause  to  think  whether  we  have  the 
perfection  of  system  and  safety  at  home.  These 
roads  pay  three  to  four  per  cent,  on  the  investment, 
and  would  return  much  higher  rates  if  the  interior 
of  the  country  were  quieter  or  more  settled.  The 
managers  find  it  of  advantage  to  soothe  the 
leaders  of  both  parties,  rather  than  to  fall  back 
upon  their  undoubted  rights;  and  from  the  gross 
receipts  are  therefore  deducted  various  sums  for 
“political  expenses”  which  ought  to  be  applied  to 
other  purposes.  But  of  late  even  this  expense  item 
has  dwindled,  because  the  government  is  becoming 
more  and  more  wary  of  offending  foreign  money. 
Years  ago  it  used  to  tear  up  tracks  and  abuse  the 
franking  privileges  in  transporting  its  army;  to- 
day damage  done  to  a line  is  paid  for,  and  when 
a train  is  requisitioned  for  troops,  it  is  also  paid  for 
out  of  the  commissariat.  The  railway  is  most  de- 
cidedly the  pioneer  in  modern  civilization.  Seven 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  of  these  lines  work  under 
a state  subsidy,  but  the  government  has  not  of  itself 
tried  the  experiment  of  building  or  owning  or 


THE  TARIFF  165 

managing  the  railways,  as  have  Argentina  and 
Brazil  and  Chile. 

Neither  has  the  government  entered  into  such 
elaborate  plans  for  colonization  or  state  subsidy  of 
any  kind  as  we  find  in  her  neighbors.  Colonists 
came  largely  of  their  own  accord.  These,  with 
English  and  other  foreign  investors,  had  as  secur- 
ity for  their  money  only  the  trust  in  the  future. 
Public  improvements  are  encouraged,  but  in  only  a 
few  cases  subsidized,  and  the  foreign  debt  of  the 
nation  has  gone  to  pay  for  its  own  constructions  or 
for  the  bonds  issued  to  secure  funds  to  carry  on 
their  interminable  Colorado  and  Blanco  feuds. 

Uruguay  derives  most  of  her  income  from  tariff 
charges,  the  country,  like  others  in  South  America, 
being  protective  for  revenue.  Of  late  years  the 
principle  of  supporting  local  industrial  products 
has  been  actively  adopted.  The  tariff  is  by  no 
means  prohibitive.  Stamp  taxes,  the  occupation 
taxes  of  Latin  nations,  with  excise  duties,  add  to  the 
revenues.  The  national  debt  is  comparatively  large, 
being  nearly  $125,000,000,  but  it  seems  not  to  bur- 
den the  people,  whose  pride  in  financial  fair  deal- 
ing is  very  sincere.  One  commendable  fact  of 
Uruguay  is  that  it  has  remained  permanently  on 
a gold  basis,  despite  the  tendency,  irresistible  in 
some  Latin  governments,  to  sink  to  a paper  issue. 
To  show  the  strong  influence  of  outside  interests 
the  old  story  is  worth  repeating  that  at  one  time 
some  dictator  financier  tried  to  repudiate  the  gold 


URUGUAY 


1 66 

debt  by  the  issue  of  paper  (silver)  scrip,  but  the 
business  men  positively  refused  to  accept  the  im- 
pure issue.  For  three  days  the  government  pre- 
tended to  insist,  but  the  banks  remained  firm;  trade 
continued  apart  from  government;  the  paper 
money  was  unrecognized,  and  finally  the  treasury 
was  compelled  to  capitulate  and  to  restore  the 
currency  to  the  international  standard.  Since  then 
gold  is  the  only  value ; foreign  gold  coins  are  legal 
tender,  and  the  pound  sterling,  the  eagle  and  other 
gold-pieces  are  listed  in  the  treasury  as  national 
money. 

I have  heard  good  men  say  that  to-day  it  might 
be  impossible  to  enforce  the  same  honesty,  but  the 
people  are  proud  of  their  isolation  from  silver 
countries  and  so  tenacious  of  their  gold  standard 
that  they  would  probably  be  offended  and  revolt 
at  any  attempt  at  dishonesty.  Let  us  hope  that  the 
pessimistic  opinion  is  merely  the  expression  of 
overripe  age. 

Their  honesty  is  a matter  of  boast  in  everything 
except — strange  as  it  may  seem — politics.  In  the 
city  administration  they  could  teach  us  many  les- 
sons of  art,  cleanliness  and  municipal  virtue,  but 
in  politics  they  are  still  in  the  mire  of  office-hold- 
ing. What  is  implied  by  Liberal,  Conservative  or 
Radical,  is  beyond  the  ken  of  a Northman.  A 
party  name  covers  a multitude  of  jobs,  in  Uruguay. 

The  country  is  so  small  and  so  fertile  and  acces- 
sible that  simple  attention  to  the  routine  duties  of 


FUTURE  NEEDS 


167 


public  life  would  work  a miracle  of  progress;  un- 
fortunately no  statesman  appears  to  set  a good  ex- 
ample. Statesmanship  goes  begging;  the  principles 
of  the  Kentucky  feud  are  the  chief  motives  of 
public  men.  Really,  there  are  no  great  questions 
involved  in  little  Uruguay.  To  govern  honestly, 
economically,  to  encourage  and  to  support  foreign 
capital,  to  leave  the  country  to  herself,  should  be 
the  sole  purpose  of  the  president  and  his  adherents. 
Brazil  and  Argentina  must  act  as  neutrals;  Eng- 
land, Italy,  and  the  rest  of  them,  would  gladly  help 
her  onward,  but  it  may  take  a generation  before 
the  old  warring  spirit  is  dead. 


CHAPTER  TEN 


URUGUAY 

THE  PEOPLE  AND  PRESENT  CONDITIONS 

“I  can  remember  the  time  when  the  word  of  an 
Oriental  was  his  bond.  The  old  estanciero  used 
to  come  to  Montevideo  to  borrow  ten  or  twenty  or 
forty  thousand  dollars,  and  never  thought  of  a bank 
or  promissory  note.  He  just  said  he  would  repay 
the  money  when  his  cattle  and  crops  were  sold.” 

This  is  a sentiment  to-day  in  Uruguay;  the  old 
hidalguia  of  Castilian  days  is  still  strong  among 
the  conservative,  country-living  aristocracy,  whose 
blood  is  pure  and  who  believe  in  the  customs  of 
their  fathers.  This  provincialism,  this  simplicity 
of  life,  is  still  evident  in  Montevideo  in  sharp  con- 
trast to  the  stir,  the  ambition,  the  energy,  the  pro- 
gressiveness and  the  materialism  of  Buenos  Aires, 
only  i io  miles  across  the  River  Plate. 

If  you  imagine  Charleston  removed  to  that  short 
distance  from  New  York,  you  can  obtain  a good 
idea  of  the  contrast  between  the  one  city  and  the 
other.  As  Uruguay  is  new  Spain,  so  is  Montevideo 
a new  Madrid,  with  broad  streets  cleaned  to  a 

1 68 


BEAUTY  OF  THE  WOMEN  169 


nicety,  a leisurely  habit  of  going  and  coming,  trol- 
leys just  replacing  horse-cars,  and  the  people  ge- 
nial, courteous,  hospitable,  with  plenty  of  time  for 
the  amenities  of  social  intercourse,  but  perhaps 
slow.  They  dress  well,  far  better  on  the  average 
than  those  in  crowded,  impatient  New  York,  while 
their  kindness  and  good  manners,  their  sincerity 
and  honesty,  might  put  to  the  blush  the  residents 
of  our  metropolis,  if  blushing  and  an  introspective 
examination  of  faults  were  at  all  compatible  with 
urban  life  in  the  biggest  city  of  the  western  conti- 
nent. The  men  are  different  from  Argentinos, 
although  they  have  of  course  the  same  racial  char- 
acteristics, and  the  women  are  the  most  beautiful  in 
the  world.  From  street  to  street,  from  social  tea  to  a 
gala  function  at  the  opera  or  at  Pocitos,  the  charm- 
ing little  watering-place  just  outside  the  capital,  a 
foreign  visitor  is  constantly  exclaiming,  “What 
beautiful  women!”  And  how  simple,  elegant  and 
dignified  they  are!  These  graces  are  not  confined 
to  the  upper  classes  alone,  but  there  seems  some- 
thing in  the  mode  of  living,  or,  as  they  modestly 
put  it,  in  the  climate,  which  brings  out  a physical 
beauty  not  Amazonian  at  all,  but  spirituelle,  dis- 
tinguishing the  Oriental  from  other  women  of 
South  America. 

Uruguay  has  about  1,000,000  inhabitants,  and 
Montevideo  300,000 — no  great  disproportion  be- 
tween city  and  country,  where  the  area  is  con- 
sidered; and  of  the  million  somewhat  more  than 


URUGUAY 


170 

one-half  are  native-born.  The  smaller  half,  Span- 
ish, Italian,  Brazilian,  French,  English  and  Ger- 
man, seems  not  to  have  influenced  the  people  to  the 
extent  that  obtains  in  Argentina,  because  the  in- 
crement from  foreign  migration  has  been  numeric- 
ally and  by  decades  less  pronounced.  The  aver- 
age yearly  increase  has  been  30,000  to  40,000,  and 
the  entire  population  of  the  republic  has  increased 
only  100  per  cent,  within  thirty-five  years;  the 
birth-rate  has  been  35.3  per  thousand  with  a death 
rate  of  14.6,  a net  result  of  20.7,  as  compared  with 
that  of  6.3  in  the  United  States.  The  growth  has 
been  normal,  not  spasmodic,  and  the  process  of  ab- 
sorption has  gone  on  with  more  completeness  than 
elsewhere;  therefore  a type  is  not  hard  to  discover. 

Two  characteristics  struck  me  as  noticeable — 
patriotism  and  conservatism.  "Soy  Oriental ” (“I 
am  an  Uruguayan”)  is  said  with  an  upward  jerk  of 
the  chin  and  a straightening  of  the  back  that  is 
delightful.  The  Uruguayan  loves  his  country;  he 
is  not  migratory,  and  will  stay  and  fight  for  it  at 
the  drop  of  the  hat;  but  he  scorns  a Colorado  or 
a Blanco,  according  to  his  bringing  up,  as  thor- 
oughly as  a Capulet  hated  a Montague.  As  is 
the  case  in  most  little  countries,  his  patriotism  is  in- 
born and  unargumentative ; the  Spanish  trick  of 
saying  to  a stranger  that  such  and  such  conditions 
are  unfortunate,  still  clings  to  him,  but  he  looks 
in  wonder  at  the  foreigner  who  can  not  see  all  the 
charms  of  Uruguay.  He  would  not  be  an  Argen- 


Branding  Cattle  in  Uruguay 


Distant  View  of  Cerro — Montevideo 


Plaza  lndependencia — Montevideo 


CONSERVATISM 


171 

tino;  he  could  not  be  a Brazilian;  he  must  be  an 
Oriental. 

The  conservatism  is  illustrated  by  the  old-fash- 
ioned way  in  which  he  cheerfully  allows  himself 
to  be  transported  about  his  beloved  capital.  If  he 
wanted  a trolley  ride,  he  could  go  across  the  river, 
but  until  now  (1906)  horse-cars  ( a sangre)  were 
good  enough  for  him;  but  he  will  take  gladly  to 
the  recent  electric  displacement  of  the  horse,  and 
enjoy  his  democratic  outing  as  simply  as  he  always 
did.  Conservatism  and  dreams  often  go  together; 
so  in  this  little  country  there  are  many  proyectos — 
plans  grand  and  practical — for  improvement,  not 
quite  at  the  stage  of  fulfilment.  The  harbor  works 
are  still  unfinished,  although  Montevideo  sadly 
needs  modern  docking  and  transport  facilities  in 
order  to  maintain  her  shipping  superiority  over 
Buenos  Aires,  since  by  nature  the  Uruguayan  port 
will  always  be  the  head  of  Platensian  trade.  The 
magnificent  government  building  is  a project,  al- 
ready photographed  but  unfinished.  The  Oriental 
can  see  with  his  mind’s  eye  his  country  blossoming 
like  England,  but  he  waits  for  foreign  capital  to  do 
it  for  him,  forgetting  that  the  Colorado  and  Blanco 
blossoms  drive  away  other  plants.  He  knows  that 
Uruguay  will  maintain  her  integrity,  but  he  some- 
times acknowledges  that  it  may  be  fresher  blood 
than  his  own  which  is  to  perform  the  work. 

This  conservatism  is  slowly  fading  before  the 
impact  of  north-European  culture.  It  is  shown  in 


172 


URUGUAY 


the  changes  taking  place  in  Montevideo,  which  is 
rapidly  modernizing  in  many  of  its  outward  as- 
pects, and  in  the  habits  of  those  who  come  to  the 
growing  city.  Unfortunately,  during  these  changes, 
there  is  the  instability  of  tone  which  must  accom- 
pany them;  no  longer  is  the  word  the  same  as  the 
bond.  When  houses  are  rented  or  drafts  presented 
at  the  bank,  material  security  must  be  forthcoming, 
and  a social  prestige  is  not  infrequently  based  upon 
some  other  quality  than  blood  and  ancestry.  Money 
is  beginning  to  talk  in  Montevideo. 

But  Montevideo  is  not  Uruguay.  The  interior 
is  not  waiting  to  be  exploited,  but  it  is  still  a long 
way  from  being  settled,  in  both  senses  of  the  word. 
The  gaucho  controls  affairs  away  from  the  capital, 
and  he  is  as  conservative  in  his  untrammeled  liberty 
as  his  more  active  urban  brother.  His  breed  of 
cattle  is  good,  and  much  fine  stock  is  imported  from 
abroad;  but  it  might  be  better;  it  might  be  equal 
to  the  stock  in  Argentina  and  as  quickly  reach  a 
foreign  market.  But  a complete  sanitary  system 
is  not  yet  established,  so  he  still  dries  the  skins  in 
the  sun,  slaughters  the  beef  for  cold  storage,  sends 
much  of  it  to  Liebig’s  Extract  Company  at  Fray 
Bentos,  and  throws  away  what  his  father  did. 
Grain  he  leaves  to  the  more  pacific  and  plodding 
Italian,  who  cultivates  wheat  and  corn  and  does 
not  care  to  ride  thirty  miles  a day  on  his  pony. 
Scattered  all  over  the  country,  two,  three  or  more 
in  every  departamento,  are  little  towns  of  from 


HOSPITALITY 


1 73 


four  to  twenty  thousand  inhabitants.  Each  city  is 
modestly  but  carefully  built  and  most  of  them  have 
modern  improvements,  such  as  electric  lights  and 
running  water,  wrhile  all  have  quiet,  well-kept 
parks,  a municipal  theater  and  a social  club.  Life 
in  these  towns  can  be  very  pleasant;  it  may  be  pro- 
vincial and  show  little  of  the  bustle  of  our  western 
cattle  country,  but  one  may  travel  much  nearer 
home  and  find  people  less  imbued  with  the  dignity 
of  life,  less  animated  with  a kindly  wit,  less  cul- 
tured, than  these  simple  folk  of  Uruguay. 

I never  want  to  forget  my  introduction  to  Uru- 
guay. I had  come  through  the  interior  of  south 
Brazil,  riding  at  times  muleback,  at  others  taking 
my  chances  on  the  springless  wagons  of  the  German 
colonists;  part  of  the  way  I had  used  the  primi- 
tive railways,  which  were  rather  comfortless  al- 
though expeditious;  but  for  the  last  forty-eight 
hours  I had  been  compelled  to  travel  over  a rough, 
dusty,  unmarked  road,  along  which  were  few  habi- 
tations, and  those  no  more  attractive  than  Mexican 
adobe  huts.  My  conveyance  had  been  a diligence, 
such  an  old  stage-coach  as  Buffalo  Bill  exhibits  in 
his  Wild  West  show.  Late  at  night,  tired  and  actu- 
ally foot-sore,  because  we  men  passengers  had 
walked  over  the  steep  or  sandy  places,  we  entered 
the  town  of  Ribera,  across  the  Brazilian  frontier 
from  Santa  Ana  do  Livramento.  The  next  morn- 
ing, after  a decent  rest,  I made  my  acquaintance 
with  the  place.  Ribera  has  no  claim  to  eminence, 


URUGUAY 


174 

nor,  apart  from  the  fact  that  it  is  the  terminus 
of  the  Central  Railway,  has  it  any  importance 
commercially  which  entitles  it  to  mention  in  a 
guide-book;  yet  socially  it  deserves  unstinted 
praise.  The  day  was  the  beginning  of  the  carni- 
val, but  I have  no  reason  to  think  that  I received 
on  that  account  greater  courtesy;  opportunity  was 
greater,  that  is  all.  When  it  became  known  that 
a stranger  from  North  America  was  at  the  hotel, 
the  townspeople  called  to  make  him  welcome;  I 
was  urged  to  make  myself  at  home,  and  to  be  a 
guest  of  the  local  club.  In  the  afternoon  I received 
a card  of  invitation  to  a ball  to  be  given  by  young 
men,  and  in  the  evening  the  reception  committee 
tried  to  prove  that,  far  from  home  as  I was,  I must 
not  feel  the  lack  of  kindliness  and  hospitality.  The 
hotel  offered  meager  accommodations,  but  the 
landlord  vied  with  the  others  in  his  courtesies,  and 
at  the  last  moment  suggested  that,  if  I wished,  he 
would  purchase  for  me  an  excursion  (what  we  call 
a scalper’s)  ticket,  in  case  the  saving  might  be 
worth  my  while.  No  one  criticized  my  Spanish, 
the  children  did  not  gape  at  me  or  call  me  dago; 
but  when  I asked  them  to  pose  before  my  camera, 
they  quietly  whispered  “ extranjero”  and  waited  till 
I finished.  All  the  way  through  the  country  the 
same  courtesy  prevailed.  I arrived  finally  at  the 
capital,  as  much  in  love  with  little  Uruguay  and 
her  people  as  the  unbiased  traveler  becomes  with 
her  Spanish  prototype. 


EDUCATION 


US 


Stupid  the  people  never  are;  their  relish  of  a 
quiet  joke  and  their  aphorisms  show  that  their 
brains  have  not  lost  the  peninsular  brightness  nor 
their  blood  become  sluggish  by  any  African  mix- 
ture. If  their  education  does  not  demand  that  they 
recite  the  latest  six  best  sellers,  it  is  because  they 
are  content  with  the  classics  and  with  poetry;  they 
are  not  ignorant,  and  the  school  system  has  not  had 
the  struggle  noticeable  in  Argentina,  because  no 
great  demand  has  presented  itself  to  westernize  a 
flood  of  foreigners.  They  can  not  master  modern 
sciences  because  it  is  not  their  temperament,  and 
they  are  content  to  leave  to  the  north-European 
or  to  the  North  American  the  technical  details  of 
drainage  or  kilowats;  but  they  profit  by  his  mate- 
rial improvements  even  if  they  can  not  produce 
them,  being  happy  with  or  without  the  complica- 
tions of  modern  life.  The  educational  curriculum 
is  well  devised,  but  of  course  needs  revision.  Edu- 
cation is  a national  institution  beginning  with  the 
primary  grade  schools  and  ending  with  the  univer- 
sity in  Montevideo.  The  Catholic  Church  ex- 
erts a preponderant  influence,  but  it  does  not 
monopolize  all  instruction,  as  is  the  case  in  Spain. 
Perhaps  this  accounts  for  the  freedom  of  woman  in 
Uruguay.  My  judgment  may  not  meet  the  ap- 
proval of  all  travelers,  but  it  seemed  to  me  that 
throughout  the  country  there  was  more  equality 
with  man,  more  respect  for  womanhood,  than  in  the 
rest  of  Latin  America,  and  that  woman  herself, 


176 


URUGUAY 


realizing  this  elevation  without  asserting  a claim 
on  it,  dignifies  her  position  most  becomingly.  In 
Montevideo  a chaperon  is  a matter  of  course,  but 
the  freedom  with  which  ladies  go  about  in  twos 
and  threes  molested  by  nothing  worse  than  male 
glances  of  flattery — which  they  richly  deserve — is 
in  delightful  contrast  to  the  semicloistered  timidity 
necessary  in  Argentina  and  Brazil.  The  prettiest 
sight  in  the  world  is  a dia  de  moda  at  Pocitos. 

The  Orientals  are  tasteful,  refined  and  like  nice 
things,  although  they  may  not  always  have  access  to 
them  or  money  to  pay  for  them.  It  is  not  a poor  or 
a new  country,  however,  and  the  people  are  not 
wasteful  through  sudden  riches.  In  Montevideo 
you  see  beautiful  things,  dresses,  houses,  works  of 
art,  but  you  notice  little  extravagance  or  display. 

I have  been  a guest  in  many  houses  in  Monte- 
video, and  in  all  was  there  a refinement  speaking 
of  advanced  civilization.  One  evening  I went  to 
call  in  the  home  of  a gentleman  neither  rich  nor 
famous,  though  occupying  a responsible  position 
in  the  government.  He  greeted  me  with  true  Cas- 
tilian grace,  in  which  his  wife  and  daughters 
joined.  They  played  and  sang,  mostly  the  native 
criollo  music,  in  which  I was  chiefly  interested. 
On  the  walls  were  many  fine  paintings,  some  copies 
of  old  masters,  but  many  original  scenes  from  Uru- 
guayan life.  The  painter  was  the  son  of  my  host, 
and  had  been  to  Rome  to  study;  there  he  had  won 
an  academy  prize  and  had  begun  to  make  a name 


Theater  Solis — Montevideo 


wR 


A Country  Railway  Station — Uruguay 


Traveling  in  South  America 


TRADE  POSSIBILITIES 


1 77 


for  himself,  when  he  died  of  a fever.  In  every 
thought  and  action  this  family  showed  a deep  and 
inherent  culture,  but  they  were  not  different  from 
thousands  of  others  in  Montevideo,  equally  mod- 
est. 

They  are  solid,  like  the  English  whose  traits  they 
have  to  some  extent  absorbed.  Perhaps  this  ac- 
counts for  the  comparatively  slow  growth  of  manu- 
facturing establishments  in  Uruguay, — this,  and 
their  Colorado  and  Blanco  raids,  under  which  in- 
dustrialism does  not  thrive.  Be  that  as  it  may 
Montevideo  is  not  a great  producing  city;  it  still 
imports  very  many  of  its  luxuries  and  necessities 
from  abroad,  for  the  Uruguayans,  of  all  classes, 
excluding,  of  course,  the  newly  arrived  immigrant, 
are  a consuming  folk.  They  will  buy  anything  if 
it  is  good,  and  they  have  discriminating  judgment, 
especially  those  who  are  learning  metropolitan 
habits.  In  several  directions  stretch  commodious 
avenues  of  homelike  villas,  and  around  the  city  are 
growing  suburbs.  The  citizens,  with  their  relatives 
in  the  country,  want  the  newer  things.  Proportion- 
ately they  buy  well,  but  let  the  dealer  beware  who 
does  not  treat  them  fairly.  I know  of  a case  where 
a clever  American  sold  bicycles  to  the  trusting 
Oriental;  the  stock  found  a good  market  and  the 
agent  called  for  more,  which  were  sent  at  the  same 
price  and  also  found  a ready  sale ; but  instead  of  be- 
ing up  to  the  former  grade  they  were  inferior  stock, 
a worn-out,  second-hand  assortment  dumped  by 


■7« 


URUGUAY 


the  manufacturer  on  a confiding  public.  They  were 
sold,  yes,  but  not  another  American  machine  will 
be  ridden  in  the  country,  and  that  dealer  and  agent 
must  look  elsewhere  for  trade.  It  has  cost  us  mil- 
lions of  dollars  of  business,  because  they  distrust 
us  in  other  dealings.  It  would  have  paid  a manu- 
facturers’ association  to  have  bought  and  burned 
these  wheels  rather  than  to  have  them  leave  the 
United  States  and  spoil  our  reputation  for  upright 
dealing.  I know  of  another  case  where  a merchant 
went  to  the  States  to  order  $40,000  worth  of  manu- 
factured articles.  The  manufacturer  accepted  the 
contract  with  exactly  worded  specifications,  and 
the  purchaser  went  on  a holiday  to  England. 
While  there  he  met  an  English  manufacturer  who 
sold  the  same  article  not  quite  so  finely  made,  but 
whose  reputation  was  an  honored  one  in  South 
America.  On  his  return  to  New  York  he  hastened 
to  look  at  his  wares  and  found,  to  his  horror,  that 
the  foreman  had  changed  some  of  the  vital  details 
of  the  contract.  His  reason  for  this  was  that  he 
knew  he  could  make  a better  article,  that  is,  one 
more  suitable  to  his  own  countrymen.  “But,”  said 
the  South  American,  “my  purchasers  demand  just 
what  I ordered  and  I can  not  sell  your  contrivance. 
It  may  be  better,  but  you  had  no  business  or  right 
to  determine  what  is  better  or  what  is  suitable.” 
He  therefore  countermanded  the  order,  and  ca- 
bled England  for  what  he  knew  he  could  trust. 

This  is  not  the  only  instance.  It  illustrates  the 


NEWSPAPERS 


179 


folly  of  trying  South  American  markets  until  we 
are  wise  enough  to  learn  what  they  want.  They 
like  us,  these  genial  Orientals;  at  bottom  they 
have  perhaps  as  sincere  a feeling  for  democracy  as 
any  country,  but  they  can  easily  tell  what  is  friend- 
liness and  what  is  cant,  and  they  prefer  to  see  us 
act;  talking  they  are  able  to  do  for  themselves. 

Although  the  Uruguayans  have  daily  sheets, 
freedom  of  the  press  is  not  permitted;  the  informa- 
tion given  does  not  represent  public  opinion.  As 
yet  they  have  no  newspapers  in  the  new  century’s 
meaning;  they  might  as  well  be  published  in 
Sevilla.  But  across  the  river  lies  Buenos  Aires,  and 
its  alert  journals  reach  Montevideo  for  the  break- 
fast-table. 


BRAZILIAN  STATISTICS 


Area,  3,218,130  square  miles.  Population,  15,500,000;  per 
square  mile,  nearly  5. 

Foreign  debt,  $372>503>375  ; per  capita,  $25. 

Money — Paper,  subject  to  violent  fluctuations ; unit  is  mil- 
reis  at  par  value,  54  cents.  Currency : Paper,  above  the 
value  of  milreis ; nickel  and  copper,  in  fractional  coins. 

Trade  Statistics  (1905) — Exports:  Total,  $204,286,580; 
to  the  United  States,  41.20  per  cent.;  England,  19.04  per 
cent.;  Germany,  16.60  per  cent.  Imports:  Total,  $141,184,- 
240  ; from  the  United  States,  12.31  per  cent. ; England,  49.90 
per  cent. ; Germany,  25.04  per  cent. 


Area,  121,391  square  miles.  Popula- 
tion, 43,250,000;  per  square  mile,  356. 


UNITED  KINGDOM  (GREAT  BRI- 
TAIN AND  IRELAND) 


Investments  in  the  coun- 
try : Of  English  money, 
$350,000,000;  German, 
$75,000,000  (exclusive  of 
land  possessed  by  colo- 
nists) ; American,  $17,500,- 
000. 


Total  imports  (1905),  $2,826,397,- 

010.00;  total  exports  (1905),  $1,650,- 
II7,335-°°.  (One  pound  sterling  reck- 
oned at  five  dollars.) 


Army,  221,000  officers  and  men,  at 
home;  navy,  129,000  officers  and  men, 
1,638,000  tons. 


National  debt,  $3,983,682,455.00. 


Miles  of  railway,  10,427; 
government  owned,  1,287; 
subsidized,  6,014;  unsubsi- 
dized, 3,016;  state  owned, 
1 10. 


Capital,  Rio  de  Janeiro; 
population,  750,000. 


Army,  25,000  (number 
not  definite)  ; navy,  40,000 
tons. 


180 


CHAPTER  ELEVEN 


BRAZIL 

GEOGRAPHY 

The  United  States  of  Brazil,  with  its  3,218,130 
square  miles,  occupying  nearly  one-half  of  the 
South  American  continent,  is  larger  than  the  area 
of  the  United  States  of  North  America  embraced 
within  one  circumference.  From  east  to  west  Bra- 
zil at  its  widest  point  is  2,225  miles.  This  line 
passes  through  Pernambuco,  but  from  Cape  San 
Roque  southward  the  country  narrows  continuous- 
ly. Rio  de  Janeiro,  about  in  the  center  of  this  east 
and  west  line,  is  in  longitude  nearly  half-way  across 
the  Atlantic  from  New  York  to  London.  One  great 
difference  between  Brazil  and  the  United  States 
is  that  whereas  we  stretch  from  ocean  to 
ocean,  Brazil,  though  it  touches  every  country  in 
South  America  except  Chile,  is  bounded  on  the 
west  by  the  mountains;  another  difference  is  that 
much  of  its  area  lies  within  the  tropics,  beginning 
at  4 degrees  20  minutes  45  seconds  North  and  ex- 
tending to  33  degrees  45  seconds  South,  only  the 
lower  10  degrees  (700  miles)  being  within  the  tem- 

181 


1 82 


BRAZIL 


perate  zone.  If  our  Atlantic  coast-line  were  pro- 
longed the  same  distance  as  Brazil’s,  it  would 
reach  from  the  end  of  Florida  to  the  mouth  of 
Hudson  Bay,  and  if  the  coast-line  of  Brazil  were 
laid  east  and  west  upon  our  map,  it  would  reach 
from  Portland,  Maine,  to  San  Diego,  California. 
The  resemblance  is  that,  leaving  out  the  rubber 
and  sugar  basin  of  the  Amazon,  there  is  a vast  in- 
terior region  in  which  can  be  cultivated  many  of 
the  same  crops  as  those  produced  within  our  Unit- 
ed States.  I was  schooled  in  the  idea  that  Brazil 
was  either  mountainous  or  swampy.  There  could 
be  no  greater  mistake.  The  highest  point  is  only 

9.000  feet;  the  interior,  from  the  southern  slope  of 
the  Amazon  basin  through  the  valleys  of  the  Sao 
Francisco,  the  Tocantins  and  the  Paraguay,  is  roll- 
ing hills  and  wooded  slopes,  on  a plateau  from 

1.000  to  4,000  feet  above  the  sea. 

The  Amazon  valley  is  lower,  rising  in  places 
250  feet  above  sea-level.  There  the  rainfall  may 
reach  100,  200,  300  feet  annually;  south  of  this  is 
an  extensive  area  from  400  to  700  miles  wide,  drain- 
ing into  the  Amazon  or  its  tributaries,  yet  forming 
part  of  the  interior  table-land,  which  otherwise 
drains  into  independent  rivers  or  into  what  is  called 
the  La  Plata  watershed. 

The  climate  of  this  plateau,  which  may  be  said 
to  contain  almost  2,000,000  square  miles,  is  nearly 
perfect;  it  has  the  great  advantage  of  fresh,  pure 
air,  equable  temperature,  abundant  water  supply 


THE  INTERIOR 


183 

and  rich  soil.  On  the  coast  the  rainfall  is  about 
ninety  inches  a year;  on  the  eastern  mountainside 
the  moisture  brought  by  the  trade  winds  falls  in 
rain  about  200  inches  a year.  On  the  table-lands 
the  rainfall  will  average  about  seventy-five  inches 
a year  and  is  quite  regular  during  the  season  from 
September  to  April,  except  in  a triangular  area 
700  miles  northwest  and  southwest  from  Cape  San 
Roque,  where  there  are  periods  of  uncertain  rain 
or  drought.  On  this  central  table-land  the  temper- 
ature may  reach  as  high  as  100  degrees  F.  during 
the  summer,  but  the  heat  is  never  oppressive,  and  at 
night  the  temperature  cools  to  about  60  degrees  F., 
when  as  a rule  a blanket  is  needed.  During  the 
winter  frost  and  snow  are  unknown  and  the  air 
is  dry,  cool  and  invigorating;  woolen  clothing  is 
in  all  conditions  comfortable.  The  whole  country 
may  be  compared  to  a beautiful  Tennessee  without 
the  rigors  of  winter,  the  landscape  diversified  by 
wooded  hills  and  valleys  seldom  too  abrupt  for 
the  plow,  with  an  abundance  of  running  water, 
which  makes  any  artificial  resort  to  wells  or  irriga- 
tion unnecessary.  Such  a picture  can  be  followed 
through  Minas  Geraes,  Goyaz,  Matto  Grosso,  part 
of  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Sao  Paulo.  Farther  south, 
through  the  upland  acres  of  Santa  Catarina,  Pa- 
rana and  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  all  within  the  tem- 
perate zone,  similar  characteristics  prevail,  but  the 
comparison  should  be  made  rather  with  Texas 
with  its  rolling  prairies,  or  with  New  Mexico. 


184 


BRAZIL 


They  have  ice  there,  but  seldom  snow,  and  all  the 
year  round  life  can  be  spent  in  the  open  air;  yet  a 
fire  indoors  is  not  uncomfortable.  This  land  is 
essentially  agricultural,  although  in  the  State  of 
Minas  Geraes  (mining)  are  found  the  renowned 
Brazilian  diamonds  which  promise  to  outlast  the 
supply  from  Africa.  Gold  and  other  precious 
metals  have  been  extracted  from  this  territory  for 
centuries. 

Much  of  this  land  is  virgin — as  untouched  by 
the  hand  of  man  as  was  Illinois  before  it  attained 
statehood.  It  has  been  explored  but  never  devel- 
oped; men  have  traveled  over  it,  as  Lewis  and 
Clark  penetrated  into  the  Northwest,  but  there 
is  no  road,  no  highway  over  which  commerce  may 
pass,  no  thoroughfare  on  which  may  be  transported 
the  millions  of  tons  of  produce  which  the  land  is 
ready  to  yield.  There  are  water-ways  which  may 
serve  in  the  future  as  natural  canals  for  traffic, 
since  the  river  system  is  undoubtedly  the  finest  in 
the  world;  obstacles  of  falls  and  rapids  must  be 
overcome,  but  nothing  insurmountable  to  man’s  in- 
genuity; and  these  same  rivers  will,  when  once  sub- 
dued to  labor,  furnish  power  for  all  the  machinery 
that  may  ever  be  required. 

Unfortunately  this  land  is  all  owned,  or  rather 
controlled,  by  individuals  who  base  their  claims 
upon  old  grants  dating  back  to  the  time  of  Portu- 
guese occupation  or  to  the  more  recent  government 
of  the  Brazilian  Empire.  Immense  tracts  of  unsur- 


North  American  Engineering  in  Brazil 


Italian  Coffee  Gatherers — Brazil 


The  Country — Brazil 


LAND  TITLES 


185 


veyed  land  were  parceled  out  to  men  for  rewards, 
for  favoritism,  or  because  they  gave  vague  prom- 
ises to  do  something  which  was  beyond  their  pur- 
pose or  power  to  fulfill.  There  is  very  little  of  what 
we  call  government  land  in  existence,  and  still  less 
land  which  can  be  so  simply  or  securely  trans- 
ferred that  the  purchaser,  be  he  an  individual  or 
the  representative  of  a corporation  for  industrial 
or  colonization  purposes,  can  feel  that  his  title  is 
unassailable. 

The  national  government  owns  practically  noth- 
ing. The  land  within  each  state  is  the  property  of 
the  state  government;  nor  has  any  attempt  ever 
been  made  to  put  into  systematic,  regular  form, 
according  to  a surveyor’s  chain,  even  one-third  of 
this  magnificent  area.  On  paper  much  fanciful  de- 
scription can  be  found,  but  nothing  is  accurate. 
Many  of  these  claims  overlap  each  other;  and  in 
the  interior  of  some  states  there  exist  family  feuds 
over  the  possession  of  unsurveyed  lands,  which  the 
fictitious  owners  are  too  lazy  to  clear  and  too  igno- 
rant to  cultivate.  On  many  so-called  estates  the 
claimant  has  never  set  foot;  some  are  the  habitat 
of  native  Indians  who  are  not  warriors,  as  were 
the  Creeks  and  Apaches,  but  rather  tribes  of  blight- 
ed development  belonging  to  the  Seminole  or 
Pueblo  type.  On  pretty  plats  of  these  estates,  and 
even  on  government  maps,  may  be  seen  rivers  that 
have  no  existence  or  are  leagues  away  from  their 
true  geographical  location,  the  names  of  towns 


BRAZIL 


1 86 

which  even  the  land  agent’s  imagination  could  not 
truthfully  describe;  and  railways  are  marked  as 
projected  toward  points  that  could  never  be 
reached  were  they  carried  out  by  the  locating 
engineer. 

All  this  has  acted  as  a deterring  factor  in  the 
development  of  the  country.  But  apart  from  the 
inactivity  of  the  Brazilian  character,  apart  from 
the  fact  that  until  now  there  has  been  no  irresistible 
demand  for  expansion  or  growth  into  this  terri- 
tory, there  is  a natural  reason  why  Brazil  has  been 
so  slow  in  making  use  of  her  great  land  advantages. 

This  is  the  configuration  of  her  coast  and  the 
fact  that  the  impassable  Andes  shut  her  off  from 
the  Pacific.  Brazil’s  coast-line  is  more  than  4,000 
miles  long,  all  on  the  Atlantic  ocean,  and  forms 
two-thirds  of  her  boundary.  Leaving  out  of  con- 
sideration the  Amazon  basin,  because  this  is  a land 
of  itself,  we  see  a chain  of  harbors  extending  from 
north  to  south.  Those  best  known  to  international 
commerce  are  Para  at  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon, 
Recife  (Pernambuco)  with  200,000  inhabitants, 
the  center  of  the  sugar  industries;  from  there  385 
miles  south  is  Sao  Salvador  (Bahia)  — (Boston  to 
New  York  is  345  miles  by  sea) — with  250,000  in- 
habitants, whose  chief  industries  are  sugar,  tobacco, 
coffee  and  cattle  raising.  From  Bahia  to  Rio  de 
Janeiro  is  749  miles — (Portland,  Maine,  to  Nor- 
folk. Virginia,  is  797  miles) — from  Rio  to  Santos, 
the  exporting  harbor  for  coffee  grown  in  the  state 


SEAPORTS 


187 


of  Sao  Paulo,  is  208  miles.  The  ports  of  Paranagua, 
Sao  Francisco,  Desterro  are  not  so  important  for 
ocean  steamers,  although  the  German  lines  use 
them;  they  lie  between  Santos  and  the  southern- 
most Brazilian  port,  Rio  Grande,  to  which  it  is  500 
miles,  where  the  cattle  and  German  colonist  trade 
find  exit. 

Santos  is  the  only  harbor  having  modern  dock- 
ing facilities,  and  these  are  as  complete  as  brains 
and  money  can  make  them.  Rio  de  Janeiro  and 
Rio  Grande  promise  to  have  modern  docks  within 
a few  years.  All  along  this  coast  there  is  a lowland 
edge  of  from  five  to  thirty  miles  between  the  water 
and  the  mountain  ridge,  before  the  ascent  to  the 
plateau  is  reached;  the  mountains  come  closest  to 
the  sea  in  the  states  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Sao 
Paulo,  and  subside  to  mere  hills  in  Rio  Grande  do 
Sul.  The  seaports  mentioned,  and  some  others  not 
mentioned,  form  foci  toward  which  the  developed 
land  area  and  adjacent  established  industries  send 
their  products,  so  that  there  is  no  crying  need  for 
overland  communication.  Keeping  in  mind  the 
cities  of  the  United  States  used  as  illustration, 
the  comparison  may  be  amplified  by  assuming  that 
Portland  would  be  the  center  for  Maine,  New 
Hampshire  and  Vermont;  Boston  for  Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island;  New  York 
for  New  York;  Philadelphia  for  Pennsylvania  and 
Maryland;  Norfolk  for  the  entire  South;  New 
Orleans  for  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  that  from 


BRAZIL 


1 88 

all  of  these  ports  there  would  be  railways  extending 
short  distances  into  the  interior,  beyond  which  was 
wilderness.  Imagine  the  railway  and  the  telegraph 
in  existence  a century  ago,  and  you  have  in  Brazil 
a condition  similar  to  that  in  the  United  States  at 
the  time  of  the  War  of  1812. 


CHAPTER  TWELVE 


BRAZIL 

HISTORY 

Brazil’s  northen  coast  was  discovered  in  1500  by 
Pinzon,  one  of  Columbus’  companions.  In  the 
same  year  a Portuguese  squadron  sailed  farther 
south  to  Bahia  and  took  possession  of  the  land  in 
the  name  of  the  King  of  Portugal,  calling  it  Brazil 
from  a wood  producing  a dye  like  the  Indian  dye 
of  that  character.  The  papal  decrees  of  that  time 
conferring  the  right  to  certain  discoveries  to  Spain 
and  others  to  Portugal,  created  a bitterness  be- 
tween the  two  countries;  but  gradually  Portugal, 
realizing  the  advantages  of  this  new  land,  began 
with  more  system  to  claim  and  to  develop  it.  From 
1531,  when  an  attempt  at  colonization  was  first 
made,  commenced  that  parceling  out  to  nobles  or 
to  court  favorites  of  vast  and  indefinite  tracts  which 
has  been  in  Latin  America  one  of  the  essential  bars 
to  such  progress  as  we  in  the  United  States  have 
made.  We  had  the  better  fortune  to  take  the  land 
from  the  Indian  and  to  hold  it  from  the  nation  un- 
der government  surveys.  New  Mexico  and  Cali- 

189 


190 


BRAZIL 


fornia  suffered  in  much  the  same  way  as  Brazil  suf- 
fers to-day. 

Pernambuco  was  founded  in  1526  and  Bahia  in 
1549  (New  York  in  1614  by  the  Dutch,  Boston 
in  1621).  To  Bahia  came  with  its  first  governor 
the  Catholic  Jesuits  who,  in  the  zeal  to  convert 
the  natives,  placed  another  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
development.  This  was  the  error  they  committed 
in  abetting  the  importation  of  African  negroes  as 
slaves. 

In  1555  the  French  established  themselves  in 
the  bay  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  (Jamestown  was  founded 
in  1607) , but  were  soon  driven  away  by  the  Portu- 
guese. 

While  Portugal  was  tributary  to  Spain  (1580 
to  1640)  excuse  was  found  by  the  English  and  the 
Dutch  to  attack  Spain  through  these  Brazilian  set- 
tlements. The  Dutch  had  already  acquired  a foot- 
hold along  the  coast  from  Maranhao  to  Bahia,  and, 
under  Prince  Maurice  of  Nassau,  they  throve  with 
the  orderliness  and  progress  of  his  regime.  Even 
now  Pernambuco  and  Bahia  show  their  Dutch  ori- 
gin in  their  houses,  their  gardens  and  their  Holland 
ways.  After  the  separation  from  Spain,  Portugal 
exerted  herself  and  drove  out  the  Dutch,  and  in 
1650  all  this  territory  finally  became  her  acknow- 
ledged possession. 

Meanwhile  other  settlements  had  grown;  the 
French,  who  had  tried  to  establish  in  the  bay  of 
Rio  a free  religious  colony,  had  been  driven  away 


THE  PAULISTS 


191 

in  1567  by  the  Portuguese,  who  thereafter  gave 
their  time  about  equally  to  seeking  gold,  compel- 
ling the  natives  to  work  for  them  and  founding 
chapels  as  monuments  to  their  piety  in  this  hospi- 
table spot  in  the  New  World.  The  city  of  Rio  de 
Janeiro  grew  slowly  but  surely  until  1763,  when  it 
became  the  seat  of  the  viceroy  of  Portugal  and 
reached  full  maturity  as  a capital  when  in  1808  the 
Portuguese  court  was  removed  to  Rio  and  it  be- 
came for  the  time  the  royal  residence  of  one  of  the 
monarchies  of  Europe. 

The  state  of  Sao  Paulo  was  founded  in  1554 
(Santos  had  been  occupied  since  1543)  by  the 
Jesuits  who  designed  it  for  a religious  settlement; 
but  the  colonists  yielded  rather  to  their  exploring 
and  commercial  energies  and  would  not  accept  the 
domination  of  the  Jesuits  nor  their  theories  about 
conversion  of  the  natives.  They  drove  this  religious 
organization  into  Uruguay,  Paraguay  and  what  is 
now  the  Argentine  territory  of  Las  Misiones. 
These  Paulistas,  whose  state  is  the  most  progressive 
and  advanced  of  all  Brazil,  as  we  know  it,  pene- 
trated with  bold  and  fearless  spirit  into  the  present 
state  of  Matto  Grosso;  there  they  attacked  the 
Spaniards,  and  in  their  search  for  gold  explored 
the  state  of  Minas  Geraes,  where  they  found  dia- 
monds as  well.  In  Minas  Geraes  originated  the 
first  attempt  to  throw  off  the  European  yoke  (in 
1789;  the  martyr  Xavier  “Tiradentes”  was  the 
first  patriot  in  South  America  to  suffer  for  the 


192 


BRAZIL 


cause  of  liberty  and  independence,  and  a beautiful 
statue  in  Rio  commemorates  his  deeds. 

The  history  of  Brazil  as  a nation  really  begins 
with  its  foundation  as  an  empire  under  Prince  Joao 
in  1809.  He  was  a fair-minded  liberal  ruler  who 
did  much  to  organize  the  country  under  a single 
government,  and  to  develop  ideas  of  stability  and 
harmony  in  what  had  hitherto  been  a collection  of 
struggling  colonies.  He  introduced  printing 
presses,  public  schools  and  was  generous  in  his  in- 
vitation to  foreign  scholars  and  men  of  ideas  to 
visit  the  country.  The  present  Oriental  Republic 
of  Uruguay  belonged  to  Brazil  for  a few  years  dur- 
ing his  reign. 

When  Portugal  decided  to  recall  the  court  and, 
by  reestablishing  the  kingdom  in  the  mother  coun- 
try, set  Brazil  back  into  the  position  of  a colony,  a 
peaceful  revolution,  headed  by  Senhor  Andrada, 
called  the  father  of  his  country,  and  abetted  by 
Prince  Joao’s  eldest  son,  Dom  Pedro  I,  was  accom- 
plished. On  September  seventh,  1822,  independ- 
ence was  declared,  and  the  Empire  of  Brazil,  a 
free  monarchical  country  of  the  western  hemi- 
sphere, was  founded. 

To  establish  this  new  empire  was  the  work  of 
only  a few  months.  Pernambuco,  always  restless, 
resisted  for  a time  the  subjugation  to  the  authority 
of  Rio  and  joined  the  confederation  of  Ecuador, 
but  in  1824  it  was  completely  brought  to  a sense 
of  duty.  In  August,  1825,  Portugal  recognized 


DOM  PEDRO  I 


193 


Brazil’s  independence  and  thenceforth  its  own  in- 
ternal troubles  were  all  that  demanded  the  coun- 
try’s attention. 

As  an  empire  Brazil  presents  for  study  only  two 
reigns,  that  of  Pedro  I,  from  1822  until  he  abdi- 
cated in  favor  of  his  son  in  1831 ; and  that  of  Dom 
Pedro  II,  who  began  as  a boy  of  five  to  rule  under 
a regency  in  1831,  ascended  the  throne  with  legal- 
ized majority  at  the  age  of  fourteen  in  1840,  and 
continued  in  power  till  1889,  when  he  was  peace- 
fully, and  with  great  respect  for  his  person  and 
private  life,  expelled. 

Dom  Pedro  I was  a European  by  birth  and  by 
tradition;  he  showed  loyalty  enough  for  the  coun- 
try which  accepted  him,  but  he  could  not  escape 
from  the  ideas  of  an  Old  World  monarchy.  He 
lost  the  southernmost  part  of  his  dominion  (Uru- 
guay), which  in  language  and  habits  was  more 
Spanish  than  Portuguese;  and  although  Argentina 
could  not  master  it,  neither  could  Brazil.  The  best 
result  obtainable  in  the  circumstances  was  a treaty 
in  which  the  Oriental  Republic,  a neutral  or  buffer 
state  between  Brazil  and  Argentina,  was  formed  in 
1828. 

Pedro  I was  not  popular;  he  gave  too  much  at- 
tention to  Portugal,  not  enough  to  Brazil ; he  failed 
to  grasp  the  spirit  of  the  new  country  and  to  com- 
prehend the  wave  of  independence  that  received 
new  impulse  from  the  French  Revolution  of  1830. 
The  people  were  tired  of  him  and  probably  he  was 


194 


BRAZIL 


equally  tired  of  the  people.  His  compulsory  ab- 
dication and  retirement  in  favor  of  his  son  was  a 
relief  on  both  sides. 

Dom  Pedro  II  was  the  last  hereditary  ruler  of 
the  New  World.  If  the  idea  of  a transmissible 
power  could  flourish  on  American  soil,  there  is  no 
doubt  but  that  he  might  have  established  a throne; 
but,  although  he  left  the  country  better  than  he 
found  it,  he  was  unable  to  stem  the  tide  of  repub- 
licanism. Probably  his  only  regret  was  that,  demo- 
cratic as  he  showed  himself  to  be,  he  could  not  have 
died  at  work,  with  the  keel  laid  for  the  launching 
of  the  new  Ship  of  State  as  soon  as  he  had  drawn 
his  last  breath.  Revolts  took  place  during  his  mi- 
nority, but  his  regents,  wise  men  for  the  time,  kept 
the  country  reasonably  harmonious  and  pacified. 
His  majority  was  arbitrarily  set  at  fourteen;  he  as- 
sumed control  of  the  government  in  1840  and  was 
crowned  in  1841.  For  ten  years  thereafter  he  had 
troubles  enough,  in  the  north  at  Pernambuco,  and 
in  the  south  in  Sao  Paulo  and  Rio  Grande,  where 
their  haste  for  self-rule  seemed  to  outstrip  their 
knowledge  and  their  experience.  There  were  in- 
ternal dissensions  which  showed  how  hard  it  is  to 
learn  the  cost  of  peace  and  orderly  advance;  but 
these  revolutions,  which  were  merely  localized  re- 
sentment against  the  centralizing  tendencies  of  the 
empire,  had  no  lasting  effect  upon  the  nation. 
Revolutions  in  Brazil  have  seldom  been  so  disturb- 
ing or  so  wide-reaching  as  in  other  South  Amer- 


Statue  of  Emperor  Dom  Pedro  II — Rio 


A Relic  of  Slave  Days — Brazil 


\\  ealtliy  Fazendero — Brazil 


WAR  WITH  PARAGUAY 


T9S 


ican  countries.  It  is  unfair  to  declare  that  revolt 
is  ingrained  in  the  Brazilian  people;  they  are  in 
the  main  peaceful  and  law-abiding,  and  their 
period  of  ferment  came  after  rather  than  before 
their  independence.  When  Dom  Pedro  II  reached 
his  actual  majority,  a relatively  progressive  rule  of 
thirty  years  marked  the  internal  conduct  of  Brazil. 

There  were  two  foreign  wars  which  showed  the 
mettle  of  the  country  and  gave  them  all  the  experi- 
ence good  for  them.  The  first  was  a conflict  with 
Argentina,  over  that  thorn  in  the  flesh,  Uruguay. 
Brazil  was  again  the  victor,  in  that  Uruguay  re- 
tained her  independence;  and  the  River  Plate, 
which  was  necessary  to  Brazil  for  the  speedier  ac- 
cess to  her  interior  state  of  Matto  Grosso,  was 
opened  to  free  navigation.  The  second  war  was  one 
which  may  without  prejudice  be  compared  with 
our  own  struggle  to  free  Cuba  and  to  reprove  a 
government  that  failed  to  see  the  irrepressible 
tendencies  of  modern  action.  It  was  in  essence  an 
altruistic  war,  directed  against  the  policy  of  isola- 
tion pursued  by  Lopez,  the  dictator  of  Paraguay. 
At  the  beginning,  in  1864,  there  were  two  motives 
leading  to  hostilities:  one  was  the  necessity  of  pre- 
serving intact  Brazilian  territory  in  the  states  of 
Matto  Grosso  and  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  which  Lo- 
pez threatened  to  invade;  the  other  was  Brazil’s 
demand  that  Uruguay  should  keep  peace  along  her 
border,  and  that  Paraguay  should  not  be  a contin- 
ual refuge  for  all  malcontents  who  stirred  up  trou- 


196 


BRAZIL 


ble  in  the  neighborhood.  The  Blancos — the  party 
in  power  in  Uruguay — formed  an  alliance  with 
Lopez,  and  then  the  statesmen  of  Brazil  and  Ar- 
gentina saw  that  only  radical  measures  would  be 
effective  in  checking  the  spread  of  irresponsible 
autocrats.  The  two  big  nations  agreed  to  uphold 
the  Colorados  in  Uruguay  in  their  struggle  against 
Lopez  and  the  Blancos,  the  ultimate  purpose  being 
to  crush  Lopez. 

This  personal  object  was  accomplished;  Lopez 
was  killed,  the  strength  of  Paraguay  was  shattered 
and  practically  her  entire  able-bodied  male  popu- 
lation annihilated;  the  Colorados  were  placed  in 
power  which  they  have  held  for  thirty-six  years, 
and  the  danger  of  the  invasion  of  Brazilian  soil 
was  averted.  The  war  dragged  on  till  1870  and 
brought  into  prominence  many  names  well  known 
in  both  Brazilian  and  Argentine  history.  Without 
this  war  the  Brazilians  never  could  have  learned 
the  necessary  lessons  of  offense  and  defense,  of  their 
strength  and  of  their  weakness,  or  of  the  difference 
between  a really  practical  constitutional  govern- 
ment and  an  irresponsible  liberty;  it  showed  Brazil 
and  Argentina  that  they  must  act  as  the  police 
brigade  of  the  Atlantic  side  of  South  America.  Yet 
it  has  not  altogether  uprooted  the  weed  of  dictator- 
ship from  the  American  republican  garden.  The 
war  in  some  ways  encouraged  the  friendship  be- 
tween Brazil  and  Argentina,  and  in  other  ways  it 
brought  out  certain  jealousies  between  these  two 


DOM  PEDRO’S  INFLUENCE  197 


great  countries  which  are  still  active.  This  is  not 
an  unmixed  evil;  a spirit  of  emulation  is  part  of  it 
— a rivalry  which  is  surely  leading  to  good  results 
and  will  lead  to  better  in  the  future. 

While  the  war  was  on,  little  progress  was  shown 
by  Brazil ; at  the  end  of  it  she  was  prostrate  with  the 
loss  of  50,000  men  and  over  $350,000,000.  But  no 
impartial  student  of  history  can  fail  to  admire  her 
pluck  and  energy,  which,  under  the  kindly  and 
far-sighted  policy  of  the  emperor,  was  able,  within 
a decade,  to  restore  national  credit  and  place  the 
country  upon  a secure  industrial  and  commercial 
footing.  Dom  Pedro  visited  Europe  shortly  after 
the  war  and  acquired  the  confidence  of  financiers 
there,  and  money  was  loaned  to  develop  her  re- 
sources. The  Amazon  had  already,  in  1867,  been 
opened  to  the  free  navigation  of  the  world,  but 
Dom  Pedro  was  able  to  attract  to  the  more  southern 
areas  immigration  and  capital,  and  thus  to  begin 
an  era  of  activity  which  characterized  most  of  his 
reign.  Railways  were  built,  public  works  were  be- 
gun and  education  was  stimulated.  Though  he  was 
a great  admirer  of  the  United  States,  he  was  wise 
enough  to  see  that  the  Latin  race  was  not  able  to 
put  into  practice  many  of  the  ideas  and  methods 
adopted  without  question  by  us.  He  was  a good 
Roman  Catholic,  yet  encouraged  such  a religious 
freedom  that  there  was  no  distinction  as  to  sect  or 
belief.  He  was  at  the  head  of  an  arbitrary  aristoc- 
racy, yet  he  himself  was  most  simple  and  demo- 


198 


BRAZIL 


cratic  in  his  tastes  and  habits;  he  was  also  an  aboli- 
tionist and  wished  to  bring  about  automatically  the 
emancipation  of  slaves,  but  by  a stroke  of  fate  it 
was  this  very  principle  which  led  to  his  downfall. 

African  negroes  had  been  brought  to  Brazil  as 
early  as  1530,  to  work  the  plantations  in  place  of 
the  rapidly  disappearing  native  Indians.  The 
world’s  movement,  which  in  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  was  agitating  England  and  the 
United  States,  did  not  pass  Brazil  by.  The  same 
arguments  were  used  there  as  elsewhere,  and  the 
country  as  a whole  was  willing  to  destroy  the  sys- 
tem. In  1871  a law  was  passed  according  to  which 
all  infants  born  thereafter  from  slave  mothers 
should  be  free;  in  1885  all  slaves  over  sixty  years 
old  were  declared  free;  from  that  time  on  it  was 
merely  a question  as  to  how  all  slavery  should  be 
suppressed.  The  large  plantation  and  slave  owners 
urged  with  some  justice  that  they  should  receive 
compensation;  but  the  spirit  of  freedom  could  not 
wait  for  such  legal  processes,  and  an  instrument 
was  found  in  the  person  of  the  emperor’s  daughter 
and  successor  to  the  throne,  the  Princess  Isabel. 
She  herself  was  unpopular;  she  had  married  a for- 
eigner, the  Conde  d’  Eu,  a good  conscientious  man 
and  a fighter,  but  cold,  reserved  and  unsympa- 
thetic; she  was  Roman  Catholic,  religious  and  as- 
cetic, and  though  faithful  to  her  duties  she  could 
not  understand  or  attract  to  herself  the  hearts  of  the 
Brazilian  people.  The  fear  that  when  she  came  to 


EMANCIPATION 


*99 


the  throne  their  liberty  would  be  suppressed,  made 
them  restless  and  incited  them  to  that  republican- 
ism which  was  and  is  the  essence  of  American  life. 
Her  judgment  may  not  have  been  wrong  but  her 
actions  were  untimely  and  therefore  she  did  not 
increase  her  popularity,  because,  while  she  advo- 
cated emancipation,  she  showed  no  sympathy  with 
democracy.  As  the  spirit  of  emancipation  grew, 
she  played  her  part  in  it,  and,  taking  advantage  of 
the  absence  of  her  father  in  Europe  when  she  was 
legally  made  regent  for  the  time  being,  she  signed 
in  May,  1888,  an  emancipation  proclamation, 
which  liberated  at  once  all  slaves  within  the  em- 
pire, without  compensation  to  their  owners.  This 
was  hailed  as  an  act  of  grace  by  all  anti-slavery  ad- 
vocates, who  were  naturally  the  upholders  of  the 
democratic  ideas.  Benjamin  Constant,  the  leader 
of  advanced  thought  and  the  American  disciple  of 
Comte,  rallied  his  followers — and  the  Brazilian 
mind  easily  followed  him — to  applaud  this 
achievement;  but  an  unlooked-for  result  was  the 
alienation  from  the  monarchy  of  the  aristocratic 
land-  and  slave-holding  class,  who  deserted  to  the 
republican  cause;  this  union  of  two  hitherto  coun- 
teracting forces  overcame  what  little  monarchical 
factors  were  left  in  Brazil,  and  on  November  15, 
1889,  now  the  national  holiday,  the  emperor  was 
formally  but  peacefully  deposed. 

Brazil  from  that  date  became  a republic,  but  the 
infancy  of  the  government  was  marked  by  far  more 


200 


BRAZIL 


distress  and  disorder  than  had  characterized  its 
conception  or  its  birth.  Misgovernment  was  as  bad 
as  that  which  prevailed  in  our  Southern  states  after 
the  surrender  of  Richmond,  except  in  one  particu- 
lar, obedience  to  law.  It  is  one  of  the  glories  of  our 
nation  that,  however  unjust  or  tyrannical  or  abusive 
was  the  carpet-bag  legislation  which  passed  as  gov- 
ernment for  many  of  the  Southern  states,  there  was 
comparatively  little  open  hostility,  and  that  read- 
justment took  place  with  only  the  unavoidable  cry 
of  discontent  against  undeserved  and  galling  treat- 
ment. It  is  a wonder  that  we  did  not  experience 
what  in  South  America  is  so  often  dignified  as  a 
revolution.  Despite  all  statements  of  our  modem 
pessimists  to  the  contrary,  I ascribe  much  of  our 
readjustment  to  our  Anglo-Saxon  respect  for  law. 

That  the  Brazilian  had  not  yet  submitted  to  this 
spirit  is  shown  by  the  events  since  the  establishment 
of  the  republic.  The  reign  of  Dom  Pedro  had 
fostered  in  Brazilians  a dislike  for  militarism,  and 
during  this  period  personal  rights  and  the  liberty 
of  conscience  and  conduct  had  been  respected;  but 
now  began  a misrule  of  military  autocracy  which 
the  nation  was  unable  to  overcome. by  legislative 
means.  The  first  president  was  dominated  by  the 
army,  and  the  governing  powers  went  so  far  as  to 
violate  many  of  the  constitutional  enactments  in 
order  to  advance  their  authority.  The  liberty  of 
the  press  was  restricted,  the  separation  of  Church 
and  State  was  violently  accomplished.  Meanwhile, 


A REVOLUTION 


201 


the  former  provinces  of  the  empire  were  changed 
into  self-ruling  states,  and  some  of  them  revolted 
against  the  central  government,  their  motive  being 
either  a desire  to  assert  their  own  newly-found  in- 
dependence, or  to  protest  against  the  unwarranted 
conduct  of  the  national  executive.  Sao  Paulo  was 
the  most  active  in  its  protests,  and  even  the  city  of 
Rio  de  Janeiro  rebelled.  The  first  president  was 
driven  out  of  office. 

The  second  president  was  no  better  than  the 
former  and  he  was  unlucky  enough  to  engender  a 
discord  between  army  and  navy  which  has  not  yet 
been  overcome;  but  he  was  a fighting  army  officer 
as  well  as  the  president,  and  finally  succeeded  in 
quelling  the  rebellion.  It  lasted,  however,  more 
than  six  months  and  nearly  led  to  international 
complications.  One  incident  was  the  killing  of  two 
British  naval  officers  in  the  harbor,  and  another  the 
action  of  the  United  States  squadron,  by  which  the 
recognition  of  the  existing  government  was  un- 
equivocally assured  and  the  legal  standing  of  the 
rebels  as  unequivocally  denied.  The  revolt  was  a 
victory  for  the  existing  government  at  the  end  of 
May,  1894,  but  it  left  the  people  on  a lower  moral 
and  financial  plane  than  they  had  occupied  at  the 
downfall  of  the  empire.  There  was  much  despon- 
dency, together  with  the  fear  that  Brazil  was  to  be 
the  prey  of  that  military  despotism  and  dictatorship 
which  she  had  fought  so  hard  to  expel  from  South 
America. 


202 


BRAZIL 


Nevertheless,  the  people  yielded  to  the  feeling 
that  the  constitution  should  be  preserved;  there 
was  still  revolt  in  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  but  the  state 
of  Sao  Paulo  gained  the  upper  hand  in  the  govern- 
ment and  a lawyer  instead  of  an  army  officer 
became  president.  The  desire  for  liberty  and  de- 
mocracy conquered,  and  since  then  the  country  has 
governed  itself  with  becoming  decency  and  respect. 
There  has  been  an  internal  war  of  greater  extent 
than  our  Indian  uprisings,  but  similar  to  these; 
there  have  been  plots  against  the  government 
and  attempts  at  assassinations  not  unlike  those 
which  destroyed  Lincoln,  Garfield  and  McKinley; 
there  have  been  factions  in  and  out  of  power,  as 
there  have  been  with  us,  and  mutterings  that  a re- 
publican constitutional  form  of  government  was  a 
failure.  There  are  perhaps  as  many  malcontents  in 
Brazil  as  there  are  in  the  United  States,  or  in  Eng- 
land or  in  Germany. 

But  all  things  considered,  constitutional  govern- 
ment has  been  a success  in  Brazil.  For  four  suc- 
cessive national  elections  a president  has  been 
chosen  who  has  quietly  taken  the  seat  resigned  by 
his  predecessor,  with  no  more  bloodshed  than  we 
ourselves  have  sometimes  expected  in  times  of  great 
national  excitement.  Public  improvements  have 
been  steadily  developed,  the  credit  of  the  country, 
at  one  time  sunk  beneath  the  notice  of  the  financial 
institutions  of  the  world,  has  risen  until  now  securi- 
ties, both  industrial  and  subsidized,  have  a recog- 


DEMOCRACY 


203 


nized  standing.  Brazil  has  apparently  just  begun 
to  understand  what  a great  part  she  must  play  be- 
fore the  end  of  the  twentieth  century. 

When  it  is  considered  that  the  monarchy,  after  a 
bloodless  fall  and  with  practically  the  common 
consent  of  all  the  people,  ceased  to  exist  only  eight- 
een years  ago;  when  it  is  acknowledged  that,  with 
nearly  as  much  at  stake  as  there  was  with  us,  slavery 
was  abolished  without  a struggle  only  nineteen 
years  ago;  and  that  after  these  two  stupendous 
events,  practically  simultaneous,  the  country  has 
reconstructed  itself  within  the  lifetime  of  one  gen- 
eration, criticism  would  be  ill-founded  which 
could  not  detect  much  to  admire  in  the  people  and 
their  history. 


CHAPTER  THIRTEEN 


BRAZIL 

THE  GOVERNMENT 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil 
is  patterned  after  that  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  which  was  translated  for  them  into  Por- 
tuguese by  one  of  our  citizens  long  resident  in  that 
country.  It  differs  in  some  details  from  its  proto- 
type, but  it  seeks  to  preserve  the  vital  features  while 
meeting  certain  local  conditions  inherent  in  their 
traditions. 

The  president  is  elected  every  four  years  directly 
by  the  people,  and  can  not  be  immediately  re- 
elected. He  and  the  vice-president  must  be  native 
citizens,  but  with  this  restriction  any  one  conform- 
ing to  naturalization  laws  may  become  eligible  to 
any  office  within  the  government.  His  functions 
are  much  the  same  as  those  of  the  executive  officer 
of  our  own  nation. 

Although  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  a pow- 
erful agent  in  spiritual  affairs,  no  church  has  or- 
ganic relation  to  the  nation.  All  religions  are  equal 
and  tolerated  before  the  law.  The  foreigner  is 

204 


THE  SENATE 


205 


liberally  treated  in  Brazil  and  can  exercise  practi- 
cally every  privilege  enjoyed  by  a citizen.  The 
people  themselves  may  at  times  show  a dislike  to 
foreigners,  but  whatever  governmental  or  race  an- 
tipathy there  was  is  disappearing.  Foreigners  who 
behave  themselves  in  Brazil  are  welcome,  but  na- 
tional pride  would  prefer  that  native  talent  and 
initiative  should  have  from  now  on  greater  control 
over  industrial  affairs  than  has  hitherto  been  the 
rule. 

The  Senate  has  three  members  from  each  state, 
who  are  elected  by  popular  vote  directly  by  the 
people  for  terms  of  nine  years,  but  one  from  each 
state  goes  out  of  office  every  three  years.  The  depu- 
ties (representatives)  are  chosen  also  by  popular 
vote  for  terms  of  three  years,  one  for  each  70,000 
inhabitants.  At  present  there  are  sixty-three  sen- 
ators (three  from  each  state  and  three  from  the  fed- 
eral district)  and  215  deputies. 

The  Supreme  Court  is  appointed  for  life  by  the 
president.  There  are  fifteen  members. 

The  Cabinet  is  appointed  by  the  president,  and 
has  six  members  as  follows:  of  Foreign  Affairs,  of 
Interior  and  Justice,  of  Industry,  of  Railways  and 
Public  Works,  of  War,  and  of  Marine. 

The  federation  of  Brazil  consists  of  twenty  states, 
whose  independent  and  interdependent  relations 
operate  toward  a less  centralized  government  than 
our  own.  There  are  no  territories  in  our  sense  of 
the  word;  all  of  the  unoccupied  land,  which  at  the 


2o6 


BRAZIL 


time  of  the  empire  lay  within  the  former  provinces, 
became  integral  parts  of  the  states  into  which  these 
provinces  were  erected,  and  the  nation  as  a gov- 
ernment has  really  no  land  belonging  to  itself.  The 
result  of  this  movement  alone  was  to  give  to  the 
states  greater  importance  than  they  have  with  us. 
Sergipe,  with  an  area  of  only  15,090  square  miles 
(somewhat  larger  than  Maryland),  a population 
of  over  600,000,  a seaport  and  a small  railroad,  is 
no  more  than  equal  to  the  inland  and  isolated  state 
of  Matto  Grosso,  with  its  532,550  square  miles 
(twice  the  size  of  Texas),  only  175,000  inhabitants 
and  no  railroad. 

Certain  rights,  also,  were  delegated  or  permitted 
to  the  states,  so  that  they  have  an  autonomy  greater 
than  that  possessed  by  our  states.  The  great  dis- 
tances separating  them  and  the  complete  lack  of 
easy,  rapid  and  regular  communication  between 
them,  allows  each  state  to  exercise  a certain  inde- 
pendence in  many  affairs  comparable  to  such  rela- 
tions as  existed  early  in  the  last  century  between 
New  England,  the  South  Atlantic  States  and  those 
west  of  the  Alleghenies.  Their  interests  differ  and 
their  local  histories  encourage  these  differences. 
Amazonas,  for  example,  is  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
days’  sail  from  Rio;  it  has  large  foreign  shipping 
in  rubber  and  a great  deal  of  English  capital  is  in- 
vested. Pernambuco  and  Bahia  are  sugar  areas. 
The  state  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  containing  the  capital 
of  the  country  where  naturally  is  to  be  found  the 


Y.  M.  C.  A.  Building — Rio 


The  Army — Brazil 


STATE  INFLUENCES 


207 


center  of  social  and  political  life,  is  industrially  a 
coffee  district;  but  it  has  been  subordinated  to  the 
state  of  Sao  Paulo,  where  more  coffee  is  grown, 
where  a greater  activity  has  always  been  mani- 
fested, and  where  a foreign  population  and  free- 
dom from  court  influences  have  produced  healthy 
ambitions  for  material  and  educational  progress. 
In  fact,  until  now  Sao  Paulo  has  been  a controlling 
factor  in  Brazilian  affairs  and  is  tenacious  of  her 
position. 

Minas  Geraes,  with  221,890  square  miles,  claims 
a population  of  over  4,000,000,  and  is  in  some  ways 
equal  to  Sao  Paulo  in  importance,  although  its 
lack  of  seaport  and  its  reliance  upon  mines  and  dia- 
monds for  prosperity,  instead  of  upon  agricultural 
industry,  have  not  allowed  it  to  surpass  the  others. 

Rio  Grande  do  Sul  has  had  a checkered  history. 
Founded  about  1550,  forming  a frontier  beyond 
which  lay  Uruguay  and  rebellion,  a rich  farming 
and  grazing  country,  it  promised  to  wield  the 
strongest  political  influence  in  Brazil.  In  1825  the 
experiment  was  begun  of  introducing  German  im- 
migrants into  Rio  Grande,  which  has  led  to  one  of 
the  great  problems  of  the  nation. 

The  other  states  rank  with  more  or  less  equality  to 
each  other  and  to  the  central  government,  and  still 
retain  an  interstate  commerce  tax,  but  intercommu- 
nication is  not  so  easy  or  so  general  as  it  is  with  us. 
There  are  twenty  states  in  all,  but  the  capital  of 
Amazonas,  Manaos,  is,  geographically  and  by 


208 


BRAZIL 


trade  relations,  farther  from  Porto  Alegre  in  Rio 
Grande  do  Sul,  than  it  is  from  Europe.  Such  con- 
trasts show  how  loosely  connected  is  the  internal 
structure  of  this  immense  country,  yet  beneath  there 
is  undoubtedly  a patriotism  which  will  make  of 
Brazil  a united  nation. 

The  state  charters,  granted  at  the  time  of  the 
change  from  the  monarchy  to  the  republic,  in  the 
judgment  of  some  students  of  politics,  permitted 
too  great  liberty  to  the  states;  or,  in  other  words, 
there  was  an  error  in  not  preserving  a more  cen- 
tralized form  of  government.  But  the  history  of 
the  provincial  settlements  did  not  permit  of  any 
other  arrangement.  The  federal  government  re- 
tains control  of  the  army  and  navy,  the  postal  and 
telegraph  service,  and  also  of  the  national  Central 
Railway,  but  the  states  are  otherwise  largely  au- 
tonomous. Each  has  an  independent  sphere  of 
influence  which  is  probably  inseparable  from  its 
history  and  geographical  condition.  What  we  call 
militia  is  in  some  cases  nearly  an  independent  state 
army,  more  loyal  to  the  local  than  to  the  national 
flag. 

The  army  is  made  up  of  volunteers,  there  being 
no  compulsory  law  in  Brazil  as  in  Argentina  or 
Venezuela.  Theoretically  an  army  of  600,000  men 
could  be  mobilized  in  time  of  war,  but  it  is  a ques- 
tion whether  that  number  would  ever  assemble. 
Distances  are  so  great  that  patriotism  might  leak 
away  before  the  individuals  reached  any  central 


ARMY  AND  NAVY 


209 


barracks.  The  active  formation  is,  on  paper,  close 
to  30,000  men  and  officers,  but  it  is  not  an  imposing 
body.  Occasionally  in  Rio  or  Sao  Paulo,  and  in 
the  cities  where  military  schools  are  situated,  may 
be  seen  traces  of  the  army,  but  as  a rule  no  display 
of  militarism  can  be  detected.  The  fact  is  that  Bra- 
zilians are  not  fighters  for  the  love  of  it,  nor  eager 
to  assert  a spirit  of  war;  they  are  brave,  as  their 
history  shows,  and  perhaps  they  love  brass  buttons, 
but  their  temperament  is  much  more  like  ours  in 
this  respect.  The  army  and  navy  is  more  a matter 
of  government  policy  than  a requirement  without 
which  the  people  would  not  be  happy. 

The  navy  consists  of  forty  to  fifty  vessels  of  mod- 
ern type  and  construction,  some  of  them  having 
been  built  in  government  yards  on  thoroughly  mod- 
ern lines.  The  nation  is  proud  of  these  ships,  be- 
cause anything  accomplished  by  themselves  flatters 
their  intense  patriotism,  but  this  patriotism  does 
not  extend  so  far  as  to  keep  the  men-of-war  in  per- 
fect condition.  Many  are  “undergoing  repairs”; 
others  have  not  moved  from  their  anchorage  for 
weeks  or  months,  and  the  officers  have  a bad  name 
for  laziness,  neglect  of  drill  and  that  worst  of  all 
faults  in  a navy,  ignorance  of  discipline.  That  they 
can  fight  has  been  proved  again  and  again  by  Bra- 
zilian history;  but  the  navy  certainly  is  not  the  ma- 
chine its  secretary’s  report  would  like  to  have  the 
world  believe. 

High  protection,  for  revenue,  is  the  necessary 


210 


BRAZIL 


policy  of  the  government,  but  within  recent  years 
the  tariff  has  been  increased  on  the  principle  of 
supporting  manufacturing,  which  is  developing 
with  successful  rapidity  within  some  of  the  states. 
One  cause  of  the  tariff,  illustrative  of  an  accepted 
phase  of  government  common  to  all  Latin  Amer- 
ica, is  the  official  support  given  by  the  nation  to 
railways  either  in  actual  ownership  and  operation, 
or  in  guaranteeing  payment  in  construction  and 
operation  on  bonds  and  interest  thereon.  Many  in- 
dustrial companies  also  are  led  to  feel  that  their 
establishment  is  a national  enterprise,  and  that  their 
security  and  success  depend  upon  the  promise 
which  the  government  issues  to  guarantee  a fixed 
interest  to  those  who  purchase  the  bonds.  This  is 
going  one  step  further  than  a protective  tariff,  be- 
cause it  not  only  diminishes  the  factor  of  competi- 
tion, but  it  also  develops  a monopoly.  It  stands  to 
reason  that  the  government  is  not  going  to  support 
two  industries  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same 
place,  and  that  the  field  must  be  large  and  not  com- 
pletely occupied  before  an  unsubsidized  enterprise 
enters  it. 

An  interesting  example  of  this  government  own- 
ership can  be  found  in  the  railway  situation  in  Bra- 
zil, where  a portion  of  her  mileage  is  in  the  hands 
of  private  corporations  unsubsidized,  a portion 
controlled  by  private  funds  but  deriving  some  in- 
come from  government  funds,  and  a portion  owned 
and  operated,  exactly  like  the  Post-office,  by  gov- 


THE  CENTRAL  RAILWAY 


21  I 


ernmcnt  employees.  The  railways  controlled  by 
individual  states  need  not  be  studied  here. 

The  Central  Railway  of  Brazil,  a railway  owned 
and  operated  by  the  government,  is  the  most  im- 
portant in  the  country  and  reaches  the  most  popu- 
lous and  fertile  sections  of  the  states  of  Minas 
Geraes  and  Rio  de  Janeiro.  It  connects  the  two 
great  cities  of  Rio  and  Sao  Paulo,  having  a large 
number  of  connecting  lines,  and  enjoys  besides  a 
practical  monopoly  of  the  terminal  facilities  of  the 
port,  and  most  of  the  suburban  traffic  of  the  city.  It 
is  well  built,  standard  gage  over  a good  proportion 
of  its  mileage,  and  compares  favorably  with  most 
of  the  railways  of  the  country.  However,  its  ex- 
penses far  exceed  its  income,  and  the  annual  deficit 
comes  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  tax-payers;  its  offi- 
cial staff  is  made  up  of  men  who  have  favors  to  seek 
from  the  government,  and  it  is  at  times  used  as  a 
political  tool.  Undoubtedly  the  nation  would  be 
financially  a gainer  by  leasing  the  Central  to  a pri- 
vate corporation,  but  the  spirit  of  the  Brazilians  is 
against  such  a measure.  It  does  not  seem  wise  to 
them  to  allow  such  an  immense  investment  to  be  in 
the  control  of  foreign  bond-holders;  they  have  also 
a pride  in  the  Central,  as  really  a government  insti- 
tution. There  are  other  railways  owned  by  the  na- 
tion or  state,  but  these  lines  are  smaller  and  serve 
only  isolated  territories,  so  that  no  illustrative  con- 
clusions can  be  drawn  from  them. 

The  best  example  of  a railway  completely  inde- 


212 


BRAZIL 


pendent  of  the  original  state  subsidy  is  the  Sao 
Paulo,  running  from  the  port  of  Santos,  forty-seven 
miles  up  the  mountain,  to  the  capital  of  the  state, 
Sao  Paulo,  and  thence  into  the  interior.  Its  road- 
bed and  management  are  perfection,  and  it  is  a 
source  of  great  profit  to  its  stock-holders;  yet  it  is 
not  liked  by  the  Brazilians  because  it  really  does 
little  to  advance  the  country,  and  in  proportion  to 
its  profits,  which  are  spent  largely  abroad,  it  does 
not  add  enough  to  the  prosperity  of  the  territory 
it  serves. 

Of  railways  that  are  subsidized  by  the  state  but 
owned  and  managed  by  foreigners,  the  nearest  ex- 
ample is  the  Leopoldina,  running  steamers  across 
the  bay  at  Rio  to  Maua,  whence  the  line  proper 
proceeds  to  Petropolis;  other  steamers  go  to  Nic- 
theroy,  thence  northward.  The  Leopoldina  is  the 
greatest  system  in  Brazil,  being  a consolidation  of 
many  small  lines,  and  possessing  the  first  rails  laid 
in  the  country,  in  1856,  by  Viscount  Maua.  In 
1899  a complete  new  system  was  created  by  an 
English  company,  who  took  over  the  bonds  of  the 
several  subordinate  lines.  Since  then  the  expenses 
have  been  less  and  the  income  greater,  although 
the  profit  to  the  stock-holders  in  1905  was  derived 
partly  from  funds  secured  under  government  con- 
cession. 

The  railroad  problem  in  Brazil  is  a complicated 
one,  and  differs  in  some  ways  from  that  presented 
to  us  in  the  United  States.  The  result  is  that  the 


GOVERNMENT  SUBSIDIES  213 


country  is  not  developed,  by  immigration  or  settle- 
ment, so  rapidly  or  so  extensively  as  has  been  the 
case  in  the  United  States.  In  only  a few  instances 
has  land  been  given  to  a railroad;  one  great  in- 
centive is  therefore  lost,  and  settlement  is  only  luke- 
warmly encouraged.  Government  subsidy  has 
taken  the  place  of  our  land  grants.  This  seems  to 
have  had  a deadening  influence,  and  the  goal 
sought  is  not  so  much  expansion  in  area  and  com- 
merce, but  rather  the  bookkeeping  to  show  that  the 
requirements  to  obtain  the  government  subsidy 
have  been  complied  with.  This  imposition  of  a 
subsidy  carries  with  it  a government  interference 
which  at  times  becomes  not  only  burdensome,  but 
really  depressing,  as  the  purpose  in  view  is  the  cur- 
tailment of  expenses  rather  than  the  introduction 
of  new  life  into  the  land. 

To  take  the  place  of  the  voluntary  migration 
which  has  been  one  of  the  striking  features  of  the 
settlement  of  the  United  States,  Brazil  has  applied 
its  energies,  still  led  by  the  idea  of  subsidy,  to  as- 
sisting immigration.  The  bounties  offered  to  immi- 
grants are  generous  and  undoubtedly  helpful,  yet 
the  result  has  not  always  been  commensurate  with 
the  hopes  of  the  empire  or  of  the  republic.  It  is 
true  that  about  2,000,000  south-Europeans,  Italians 
and  Spanish  or  Portuguese,  have  entered  Brazil 
since  migration  began;  but  there  is  a certain  dis- 
appointment that  state-aided  colonies  have  not  in- 
creased the  producing  and  consuming  capacity  of 


214 


BRAZIL 


the  country.  Consequently,  since  1899,  the  general 
government  has  discontinued  direct  aid  to  immi- 
grants, except  to  receive  them  at  the  port  of  Rio 
and  convey  them  to  their  destination,  leaving  to  the 
individual  states  whatever  encouragement  seems 
best  suited  to  their  needs. 

Somewhat  different,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  ques- 
tion of  state  aid  or  government  subsidy  to  steam- 
ship companies.  Land  communication  in  the  in- 
terior is  very  restricted,  except  from  Rio  to  Sao 
Paulo  and  a few  minor  places,  and  intercourse  must 
be  accomplished  along  the  coast  by  water.  Traffic 
between  local  ports  would  not  pay,  however,  and 
there  is  no  prospect  that  commerce  will  become  so 
extensive  that  it  will  of  itself  support  sufficient 
steamer  service.  Therefore  the  only  way  to  assure 
regular  and  trustworthy  intercommunication  is  to 
pay  part  of  the  expenses  of  those  steamers  plying 
from  harbor  to  harbor.  The  government  has  for 
years  subsidized  boats  sailing  under  the  Brazilian 
flag,  and  is  always  ready  to  contribute  to  a foreign 
company  which  will  comply  with  the  proper  de- 
mands of  the  government.  It  may  be  explained  and 
warranted  as  part  of  the  educational  or  civilizing 
methods  of  a country,  and  in  that  sense  should  be 
no  burden  upon  the  treasury. 

The  educational  problem,  during  the  time  of  the 
emperor  and  since,  has  been  a great  oiie.  Brazil  has 
no  university  as  we  understand  the  term,  and  the 
Department  of  the  Interior  provides  only  for 


EDUCATION 


215 


higher  studies  in  special  law  schools,  medical 
schools  and  various  institutions  for  technical  train- 
ing. It  can  not  be  said  that  in  this  respect  they  have 
advanced  as  far  as  we  have.  The  habit  of  going 
abroad  for  finishing  work,  whether  it  be  in  the  so- 
called  learned  professions,  or  in  the  arts  and  sci- 
ences, is  still  considered  justifiable  and  creditable. 
Their  idea  of  education  is  culture  rather  than  train- 
ing, and  their  mental  outlook  on  life  is  more  in 
sympathy  with  letters  and  the  arts  than  with 
branches  of  the  exact  sciences;  consequently  what 
talent  manifests  itself  in  Brazil  is  modified  by  for- 
eign instruction.  Yet  there  has  been  much  native 
talent  developed,  especially  in  literature  and  music, 
and  some  of  their  engineering  work  is  of  a high 
order.  At  present  there  is  a gradual  awakening 
throughout  the  nation.  They  are  seeing  the  neces- 
sity of  developing  the  inestimable  riches  of  their 
possessions;  the  ambition  of  the  younger  men  is 
directed  toward  the  technical  professions,  and 
many  of  them  are  coming  to  the  United  States 
to  study  at  our  engineering  schools,  recognizing 
that  such  work  with  us  has  a practical  character 
which  can  be  found  in  no  other  country. 

Primary  education  is  neglected.  The  Brazilians 
themselves  say  this,  and  one  of  their  perplexities  is 
to  devise  some  system  which  may  bridge  the  deep 
gap  between  the  wide-spread  illiteracy  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  thorough  and  inherited  culture  of  the 
aristocracy.  Primary  school  education  is  under  the 


2l6 


BRAZIL 


control  of  the  individual  states,  being  compulsory 
in  some,  voluntary  in  others;  but  even  where  the 
law  demands  attendance  at  school  to  some  extent, 
it  is  not  enforced,  nor  can  it  be.  Distances  are  often 
so  great,  inspection  so  lax  and  schools  so  poorly 
equipped,  that  it  would  take  a small  army  to  en- 
force it.  The  mixture  of  races  is  a complicating 
factor  also.  The  Italians  who  come  to  Sao  Paulo 
have  a language  so  nearly  like  the  Portuguese  that 
they  confuse  the  tongues,  while  the  Germans  in 
Rio  Grande  do  Sul  have  been  so  segregated  for 
generations  that  they  have  had  no  other  language 
than  their  own,  and  being  so  numerous  they  have 
been  left  to  get  for  themselves  whatever  instruction 
pleased  the  community. 

Brazil  transacts  its  business  on  a paper  basis.  Its 
financial  situation  is  one  of  the  most  perplexing 
problems  of  the  nation,  and  the  attempt  to  explain 
the  intricate  mechanism  by  which  paper  represents 
silver,  silver  is  converted  into  gold,  and  gold  sent 
abroad  in  satisfaction  of  loans  or  credits,  would  fill 
a very  unreadable  page.  It  must  suffice  to  say  that 
gold  is  not  seen  from  one  year’s  end  to  the  other; 
silver  may  occasionally  be  transmitted  from  person 
to  person  or  received  at  a bank,  but  most  of  the 
silver  issue  is  hoarded.  All  but  an  insignificant 
amount  of  the  money  current  is  in  paper  notes  and 
nickel  or  copper  coins.  With  this  paper  purchases 
are  made  and  debts  paid,  a checking  system  such  as 
serves  our  purpose  in  daily  life  being  much  more 


"Garden  of  Light" — Sao  Paulo 


Bronze  Gateway  to  Old  Palace — Rio 


Portuguese  Library — Rio 


THE  M1LREIS 


217 


of  a ceremonious  procedure.  The  money  is  uni- 
form throughout  the  country,  so  that  there  is  no  loss 
in  value  on  notes  issued  by  a local  bank,  and  money 
purchased  in  Pernambuco  passes  readily  in  Porto 
Alegre,  provided  it  is  not  counterfeit.  For  such 
money  it  is  well  always  to  be  on  the  lookout.  The 
use  of  the  word  “purchased”  is  intentional,  because 
paper  is  bought  and  sold  precisely  as  we  would  buy 
or  sell  wheat — that  is,  the  value  for  the  day  of 
bank-notes  varies  according  to  the  rate  of  exchange 
on  gold.  To-day  the  milreis  may  be  worth  less,  or 
in  other  words  the  English  pound  sterling  worth 
more  than  it  was  yesterday,  or  even  two  hours  ago. 
The  price  of  the  milreis  fluctuates  enormously  ac- 
cording to  the  value  of  the  pound,  and  the  owner 
of  money  is  never  sure  exactly  what  it  may  sell  for. 
So  tricky  and  agile  is  the  money  exchange  that 
prices  of  ordinary  commodities  vary  from  day  to 
day,  and  it  is  not  possible  to  reckon  one’s  habitual 
expenses  on  a fixed  basis.  Even  railway  tickets 
fluctuate  in  value  in  obedience  to  exchange,  and  the 
cost  of  travel  in  Brazilian  currency  depends  more 
upon  the  foreign  market  than  upon  the  local  tariff. 
A student  of  economics  and  of  the  particular  money 
question  here  mentioned,  should  be  consulted  if  the 
reader  wishes  exact  information  upon  it,  but  I 
doubt  if  he  will  be  any  wiser,  after  he  has  heard  an 
explanation,  than  he  was  before.  The  heavy  for- 
eign obligations  of  the  Brazilian  government  and 
her  great  foreign  commerce,  compared  to  which 


2 I 8 


BRAZIL 


the  internal  trade  is  insignificant,  explains  the  fact 
of  her  dependence  upon  English  gold,  but  it  does 
not  explain  the  illogical  fluctuation  in  value.  Gos- 
sip says  that  the  banks,  as  speculators,  have  manip- 
ulated the  market  as  our  financiers  adjust  the  prices 
on  the  stock  exchange ; but  only  the  wise  ones  know, 
and  they  never  tell. 

The  Post-office  and  the  telegraph  service  are 
managed  by  the  Industry  Department,  and  have 
not  that  efficiency  which  has  been  developed  by 
Argentina  or  even  Venezuela.  The  postal  facilities 
extend  over  a great  part  of  the  republic,  and  letters 
are  usually  delivered;  but  the  cost  is  high,  the  time 
in  transit  long  and  connections  not  well  arranged. 
It  is  common  advice  that  if  a sender  wishes  to  make 
sure  of  the  delivery  of  a letter,  it  must  be  registered, 
for  the  curiosity  of  the  postal  clerks  may  overcome 
their  knowledge  of  the  rules,  and  the  letter  disap- 
pear. The  telegraph  is  also  government  property, 
and  has  become  more  trustworthy  and  efficient 
within  late  years;  but  the  cost  is  high,  although  the 
service  is  reputed  to  be  prompt.  Along  the  coast 
there  are  cables  operated  and  controlled  by  foreign 
companies,  and  by  these  lines  messages  may  be  sent 
to  many  of  the  large  cities.  I have  heard  that  their 
service  is  more  trustworthy  than  that  of  the  govern- 
ment. 

In  public  affairs  the  municipal  organization  and 
city  government  are  recognized  as  highly  com- 
mendable, and  we  must  acknowledge  our  inferior- 


SMALLER  CITIES 


219 


ity  to  them  in  this  respect.  The  mayor  (prefect)  of 
a city  is  appointed,  not  elected,  but  the  aldermen 
are  placed  in  office  by  popular  vote.  These  posi- 
tions carry  the  same  weight  and  dignity  that  they 
do  in  England,  and  the  results  are  consequently 
beneficial  to  the  city.  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Sao 
Paulo  are  models  scarcely  equaled  by  any  city  in 
the  United  States;  Bello  Horizonte,  in  the  state  of 
Minas  Geraes,  is  a city  made  to  order  from  bottom 
to  top,  like  the  White  City  at  Chicago  in  1893,  and 
is  artistically  and  hygienically  a success  as  well  as 
commercially  prosperous.  Santos  cleaned  away  her 
bad  name  when  she  annihilated  yellow  fever  by 
building  the  best  and  the  only  docks  in  Brazil,  sec- 
ond in  South  America  only  to  those  in  Buenos 
Aires.  Manaos  on  the  Amazon,  and  Porto  Alegre, 
on  Lake  Mirim,  steadily  improve  themselves  by 
every  modern  device,  while  such  widely  separated 
interior  cities  as  Diamantina  in  Minas  Geraes,  and 
Bage  in  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  show  the  same  desire 
to  have  a clean,  wholesome,  well-kept  city,  in  which 
a man  may  live  a respectable,  healthy  life  without 
fear  of  overcrowding  or  of  overtaxation.  If  one 
were  ta  diagram  the  graft  nuisance  in  Brazil,  in 
comparison  to  us,  where  our  cities  are  the  worst, 
our  counties  and  states  perhaps  less  and  our  na- 
tional government  the  least  infected  by  the  evil  of 
graft,  it  might  be  asserted  that  in  Brazil  the  na- 
tional government  has  been  the  most  tainted,  the 
state  less  so,  and  the  city  least  of  all. 


220 


BRAZIL 


In  fact,  there  is  a noticeable  contrast  in  all  Bra- 
zilian life  between  the  city  and  the  government  or- 
ganizations. This  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  early 
history  of  the  people  and  of  the  country.  The  peo- 
ple arose  from  mixed  sources  and  had  distinct 
motives  in  their  growth,  while  the  nation  developed 
from  different  states,  each  having  a separate  and 
independent  focus  which  received  impressions  not 
so  much  from  one  center,  as  was  the  case  in  Ar- 
gentina, but  rather  from  the  outside  world.  The 
result  was  a local  pride,  such  as  we  have  in  Massa- 
chusetts, in  Virginia  and  in  Texas;  and  this  decen- 
tralization has  not  been  destroyed  by  the  present 
nationalizing  tendency  going  forward  in  Brazil  as 
a whole.  Although  seemingly  a contradiction,  it  is 
nevertheless  true  that  the  older  state  rivalries  are 
fostering  a love  of  country  which  in  the  end  will  be 
strong  and  enduring. 

The  country  is  so  big  that  it  can  afford  to  be 
generous,  and  however  loosely  knit  it  feels  its  own 
power  and  dignity.  This  is  shown  in  the  willing- 
ness of  Brazil  to  submit  in  good  faith  and  humor  to 
the  principle  of  arbitration,  rather  than  to  bully  by 
force  of  arms.  Its  boundary  disputes  are  nearly  all 
settled  and  only  recently  Bolivia  received  advan- 
tages in  her  claim  to  a territory  that  was  in  many 
respects  already  Brazilian.  She  wants  peace  and 
will  sacrifice  anything  but  her  dignity  to  retain  it. 
The  weakness  of  her  central  government  finds  an 
object  lesson  in  her  poorly-kept  government  statis- 


A NATIVE  HABIT 


221 


tics,  and  in  the  unsystematic  way  in  which  most 
public  matters  are  conducted.  Where  native  abil- 
ity alone  is  employed,  there  is  apt  to  be  delay  and 
negligence.  This,  however,  is  a characteristic  of 
the  people  and  is  intimately  associated  with  the 
crudeness  of  their  education. 


CHAPTER  FOURTEEN 


BRAZIL 

THE  PEOPLE  AND  PRESENT  CONDITIONS 

“The  Brazilians  like  to  do  things  their  own  way; 
they  can  be  led  by  kindly  example,  but  not  driven. 
They  are  quick-witted,  but  they  lack  education.” 

This  remark  was  made  to  me  by  a good  friend 
of  Brazilians,  a man  who  has  given  the  best  of  fif- 
teen years  to  life  among  them,  who  is  loved  by  them 
for  his  work  and  character,  and  whose  name  will 
become  part  of  their  history  and  ours. 

There  are  15,500,000  people  in  Brazil,  but  the 
term  “Brazilian”  does  not  express  a simple  idea; 
it  is  perhaps  more  complex  than  the  frequently 
condemned  Anglo-Saxon,  which  leaves  so  much  to 
the  imagination;  and  it  may  convey  as  imperfect 
a concept  as  our  own  word  “American,”  which  has 
become  so  rooted  in  language  that,  despite  the 
offense  it  often  gives  to  the  South  American,  it  is 
accepted  over  all  north-Europe  and  the  rest  of  the 
world  as  indicating  a citizen  of  the  United  States. 

The  heterogeneous  factors  of  our  history  and  our 
people  show  themselves  in  an  analogous  way  in  the 

222 


NEGRO  BLOOD 


223 


formation  of  the  contemporaneous  Brazilian.  The 
early  Dutch  influence  of  government  and  settle- 
ment is  as  much  alive  in  Pernambuco  and  Bahia 
as  it  is  with  us  in  New  York;  but  from  racial 
stock  the  Brazilians  are  Latin,  south-European, 
and  Portuguese.  Portuguese  is  the  national  lan- 
guage, retained  as  pure  there  as  English  is  here. 
The  antipathy  between  Brazilians  and  Portuguese 
is  as  strong  as  that  between  ourselves  and  England 
in  the  early  and  middle  years  of  the  last  century. 
They  are  largely  Portuguese  in  blood,  but  have 
become  American  in  thought  and,  considering  the 
short  time  since  the  disappearance  of  the  mon- 
archy, they  are  clearly  democratic  in  sentiment  and 
imagination. 

Brazil  from  its  infancy  made  use  of  slaves.  Be- 
fore 1600  there  is  record  of  African  negroes  intro- 
duced into  Brazil;  they  took  the  place  of  the 
disappearing  Indian  and  were  brought  over  in  ever 
increasing  numbers,  so  that  by  the  census  of  1890, 
two  years  after  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  one 
year  after  the  birth  of  the  republic,  it  is  stated  that 
there  were  5,000,000  whites,  3,500,000  blacks, 
6,500,000  half-breeds  of  Indian,  negro  or  white, 
and  400,000  Indians.  This  shows  an  equality  if 
not  a preponderance  of  negro  blood.  Before  the 
law  there  is  no  distinction;  there  is  no  color-line, 
geographically  or  politically;  only  very  recently 
has  there  been  any  social  ostracism  against  the 
black.  In  Sao  Paulo,  where  civilization  more 


224 


BRAZIL 


closely  approaches  our  own,  and  in  the  state  of  Rio 
Grande  do  Sul,  where  there  are  many  Germans 
and  few  negroes,  this  is  beginning  to  be  felt;  but  in 
the  north,  where  the  negroes  are  most  numerous,  no 
distinction  is  perceptible.  As  for  that  faint  taint 
of  negro  blood  which  with  us  seemingly  for  ever 
bars  its  unfortunate  possessor,  it  will  be  impossible 
for  Brazil  to  draw  the  “color-line.” 

One  of  the  presidents  of  Brazil,  a man  respected 
for  his  deeds  as  well  as  for  his  ambition,  confesses 
with  a frank  pride  that  he  has  negro  blood  in  his 
veins,  and  the  nation  as  a whole  resents  any  impu- 
tation that  black  blood  carries  social  inequality 
with  it.  I was  invited  one  evening  to  a small  din- 
ner-party at  which  we  were  to  meet  a Senhorita 
X — , a young  lady  freshly  launched  into  society, 
whose  musical  talent  was  exceptional,  even  in  this 
land  naturally  so  gifted  with  love  of  both  poetry 
and  music.  I was  the  only  one  of  the  guests  who 
had  not  met  her,  so  that  she  was  smothered  with 
greetings  before  I was  presented;  but  when  my 
turn  came,  I was  astonished  to  find  before  me  what 
we  would  call  a mulatto — kinky  hair,  thick  lips 
and  prominent  teeth.  There  was  not  the  least  trace 
of  embarrassment  in  her  or  the  rest  of  the  company. 
She  sat  opposite  me  at  table,  played  for  us  later 
some  brilliant  piano  pieces,  and  kissed  all  the 
ladies  good-by  with  so  much  ease  that  it  was  abso- 
lutely impossible  to  conceive  any  difference  among 
us  on  account  of  race. 


THE  NATIVE  OF  TO-DAY  225 


A modest  estimate  will  say  that  one-fourth  of  the 
blood  of  all  Brazil  is  African;  this  does  not  mean 
that  only  one-fourth  of  the  population  is  negro — 
the  proportion  is  greater — but  that  from  top  to  bot- 
tom of  society  there  is  this  quantitative  and  quali- 
tative strain.  Of  course  a remnant  of  pure-blooded 
Lusitanians  exists,  the  old  aristocracy  who  have  as 
successfully  kept  themselves  unmixed  as  have  the 
Castilians  of  Bogota,  but  they  are  not  “the  people.” 
In  Bahia  nearly  every  one  is  black ; in  Rio,  whether 
in  simple  social  life  or  in  the  political  aristocracy 
of  Petropolis,  the  negro  strain  is  evident,  but  far- 
ther south  it  disappears.  The  outlook  in  Brazil  is 
that  what  we  call  the  black  man — negro — is  dying 
out  by  a process  of  involuntary  self-destruction. 
The  race  is  crowding  to  the  cities;  it  is  improvi- 
dent, shiftless  and  unhealthy;  tuberculosis,  syphilis 
and  cachacha  (a  cheap  rum)  are  the  destroying 
elements,  and  the  country  is  too  poor  and  too  uned- 
ucated to  make  any  great  effort  to  save  this  people. 
They  do  not  like  the  hard  field-labor,  and  in  the 
richer  coffee  areas  they  are  being  crowded  out  by 
Italians,  Portuguese  and  Spanish;  farther  south 
the  Italian  and  German  does  all  the  work  except 
the  day  labor  around  the  docks. 

The  next  greatest  source  of  new  blood  (omitting 
the  migration  from  Portugal  and  Spain  as  being 
too  close  to  the  parent  stock)  is  Italy.  Of  course, 
Italians  readily  find  a place  there,  since  they  make 
good  laborers  and  the  language  is  so  similar  that 


226 


BRAZIL 


even  a few  days  suffice  for  them  to  acquire  the  rudi- 
mentary vocabulary  necessary  to  begin  work.  But 
they  do  not  become  citizens  in  a truly  political 
sense,  any  more  than  they  do  in  the  United  States. 
They  are  thrifty  and  law-abiding,  they  breed  well 
and  pay  cash,  but  they  send  their  money  home  to 
Italy,  and  when  they  have  saved  enough  they  re- 
turn home. 

Undoubtedly  a great  influence  has  been  exerted 
upon  Brazilian  blood  and  character  by  the  Ger- 
man influx  of  colonists,  who  have  been  steadily 
encouraged  since  1825  and  to  whom  areas  of  land 
were  devised  by  the  government.  I have  trust- 
worthy figures  which  give  the  number  of  Germans 
native-born  and  immigrant  as  high  as  500,000;  the 
opinion  throughout  the  world,  however,  upheld 
by  the  Brazilians  themselves  and  announced  by  the 
German  Foreign  Office,  is  that  400,000  will  suffice. 

These  colonists  in  Rio  Grande  do  Sul  are  as  de- 
based as  the  “po’  white  trash”  of  our  own  South, 
and  will  die  of  sloth  if  Brazil  and  Germany  do  not 
help  them.  Intelligent  and  well-informed  persons 
feel  confident  that  if  the  United  States  were  weak, 
and  if  Brazil  had  no  friends,  the  emblem  of  the 
German  Empire  would  to-day  be  flying  over  Rio 
Grande  as  imperial  soil. 

Yet  it  is  an  error  to  assume  that  this  migration 
from  Germany  came  to  Brazil  through  the  same 
impulse  which  brought  them  to  the  United  States; 
nor  did  they  find  in  Brazil,  when  they  arrived,  the 


Office  of  Jornal  do  Commercio — Rio 


4 I 


Protestant  Episcopal  Church — Rio  Grande 


A Street  in  Porto  Alegre 


THE  GERMANS 


227 


same  conditions  or  country  which  they  found  when 
they  landed  in  the  northern  hemisphere.  The 
flower  of  our  German  citizens  came  to  the  United 
States  during  and  after  the  crisis  of  the  revolution 
of  1848.  Statesmen,  politicians,  editors,  university 
men,  thinkers  of  all  shades  of  liberalism  came  here 
to  escape  from  Germany,  and  to  find  freedom  for 
thought  and  action  quite  as  much  as  to  escape  from 
a military  bureaucracy  crushing  liberty  there. 
During  and  after  our  Civil  War  others  came  with 
an  enthusiasm  for  our  ideas  and  because  they  found 
here  opportunities  in  a rapidly  expanding  country; 
but  they  came  as  individuals,  never  as  colonies  ac- 
cepting or  demanding  state  aid.  There  are  a few 
examples  in  the  United  States  of  religious  com- 
munities which  have  isolated  themselves  from  the 
friction  of  our  daily  national  life;  but  even  these 
came  independently  and  few  perpetuate  their  cus- 
toms beyond  the  second  generation.  Our  Germans 
met  at  the  threshold  of  their  adopted  land  the  com- 
petition of  Americans  or  of  those  who  were  becom- 
ing Americans  as  fast  as  they  could.  They  retained 
only  the  wholesome  traditions  and  customs  of  their 
Fatherland,  but  methods  of  work  in  any  form  they 
had  to  relearn  or  to  learn  anew,  according  to  the 
successful  methods  of  the  land  to  which  they  came. 
In  a word,  they. became  absorbed.  Their  spirit  of 
honesty,  thrift,  persistence  and  thoroughness  is  all 
they  clung  to;  even  their  language  they  relin- 
quished, except  in  such  cases  of  higher  culture 


228 


BRAZIL 


where  the  advantage  of  a second  modern  tongue 
kept  the  children  by  compulsion  acquainted  with 
German.  The  same  forces  are  at  work  to-day;  the 
Italian  or  the  Russian  immigrant  learns  English 
as  his  first  lesson ; his  children  repudiate  and  forget 
the  mother  tongue  and  insist  on  Americanizing 
themselves  at  our  public  schools  and  in  business 
life. 

It  has  been  different  in  the  case  of  the  Germans 
in  Brazil.  Uprooted  from  their  peasant  homes 
along  the  Rhine  or  elsewhere,  they  were  planted 
there  en  masse  as  colonists  in  a new  territory,  a 
wilderness;  but  as  beautiful,  as  healthy  and  as  pro- 
ductive a country  as  the  sun  ever  shone  upon.  The 
only  neighbors  they  had  were  a few  Brazilians, 
who  farmed  with  the  methods  in  vogue  before  Co- 
lumbus left  the  Iberian  peninsula.  As  colonists 
they  settled  in  the  state  of  Santa  Catarina  at  Join- 
ville  and  Blumenau,  in  Parana  at  Curitiba,  in  Rio 
Grande  do  Sul  at  Novo  Hamburgo,  Santa  Elena 
and  scores  of  other  colonies.  I found  life  there  as 
dull  as  it  must  have  been  in  villages  two  hundred 
years  ago;  there  has  been  practically  no  improve- 
ment since  they  were  started.  They  are  thrifty, 
economical  and  decently  moral,  but  they  are  not 
progressive,  or  expansive,  or  ambitious;  the  son 
does  what  his  father  did  before  him,  the  daughter 
is  the  same  plodding  Hausfrau  of  the  Middle 
Ages. 

These  colonies  are  dying  of  anemia,  physical 


THE  GERMAN  COLONISTS  229 


and  mental;  there  is  no  new  blood  poured  into 
them  from  abroad  or  at  home;  they  hate  the  negro 
and  do  not  marry  among  the  Brazilians;  they 
speak  German  among  themselves,  and  whole  vil- 
lages of  them  pass  days  without  hearing  a word  of 
Portuguese;  the  land  lies  open  before  them,  yet  a 
few  miles  away  from  the  original  settlement  it  is 
as  untilled  as  when  Garibaldi  marched  over  it  in 
1840.  Only  recently  have  they  begun  to  demand  a 
decent  system  of  common  school  education.  Until 
the  last  five  years  their  only  instruction  was  from 
haphazard  itinerant  German  teachers  in  their  own 
language,  or  from  worse-prepared  Brazilians. 
Most  of  them  read  and  write  German,  but  they  are 
not  well-informed  and  their  sluggish  wits  are  not 
stimulated  to  acquire  more  than  enough  to  satisfy 
the  animal  needs  of  life.  Yet  they  are  Brazilian 
citizens  and  possess  a seldom-used  franchise.  They 
assert  at  once  that  they  are  Brazilians — Teuto- 
Brazilians,  to  distinguish  them  from  Luso-Brazil- 
ians.  If  they  wished,  they  could  exert  a prepon- 
derant influence  in  Brazilian  politics;  and  if  their 
intellectual  needs  are  met,  if,  by  new  blood  or 
otherwise,  they  are  aroused  from  their  dormant  life, 
Rio  Grande  do  Sul  may  carry  Brazil  as  Indiana 
sometimes  carries  an  election  in  the  United  States. 
The  best  among  them  leave  their  farms  and  escape 
to  the  city  of  Porto  Alegre,  but  no  one  with  a love 
of  accuracy  could  compare  Porto  Alegre  (founded 
in  1740)  with  Milwaukee  (founded  in  1835). 


230 


BRAZIL 


Rarely  does  a Teuto-Brazilian  reach  prominence; 
Lauro  Muller,  minister  of  public  works  in  the 
present  cabinet  ( 1906) , is  a German  Brazilian,  but 
he  came  from  a father  whose  early  life  was  spent 
in  Parana,  outside  of  a colony’s  influence.  Never- 
theless, they  are  Americans,  democrats  in  spirit; 
they  have  thrown  off  allegiance  to  their  earlier 
home,  and  although  some  of  them  go  back  to  Ger- 
many with  an  unexpressed  hope  of  remaining 
there,  they  usually  return  to  Brazil,  where  social 
caste  and  militarism  are  not  against  them. 

These  are  the  factors  composing  the  Brazilian 
of  to-day — Portuguese,  Africans,  Italians,  German 
and  Spanish.  As  a laboring  population  they  are 
acceptable  and  even  suitable,  but  they  are  not  great 
consumers,  nor,  in  proportion  to  their  production, 
do  they  stimulate  the  manufacturing  or  importa- 
tion of  commodities  to  balance  trade.  Their  stan- 
dard of  living,  according  to  that  of  the  European 
or  American  laboring  class,  is  remarkably  low.  In 
addition,  they  do  not  blend  into  a homogeneous 
race  even  so  indefinite  as  we  ourselves  present. 

I constantly  met  this  paradox:  All  over  Brazil 
there  is  a nationality  which  gives  a significance  to 
the  statement,  “I  am  a Brazilian,”  quite  as  effective 
as  “I  am  a Chileno,”  while  at  the  same  time  local 
pride  in  place  of  birth  is  much  more  pronounced 
than  it  is  in  Argentina  or  Venezuela.  The  native 
of  Para,  of  the  state  of  Minas,  or  of  Rio  Grande  do 
Sul  may  never  have  seen  the  capital  city  of  Rio  de 


THE  ARISTOCRACY 


231 

Janeiro,  and  will  demand  recognition  for  his  sec- 
tion of  the  country,  in  a way  claimed  by  the  citizen 
of  our  United  States.  The  extent  of  coast-line,  and 
the  fact  that  all  communication  between  states  is 
by  sea,  partly  explains  this,  but  I like  to  think  that 
patriotism,  in  Brazil,  is  a deep  and  lasting  trait. 
The  negro  in  the  north,  the  old  Portuguese  in  the 
center,  and  the  German  in  the  south,  are  racially 
far  removed  from  one  another,  yet  the  feeling  that 
they  are  one  people  can  not  be  overcome. 

In  Brazil,  as  in  every  South  American  republic, 
there  exist  traces  of  a feudal  system,  in  that  a sharp 
line  divides  the  upper  class,  the  aristocracy,  from 
the  lower  class,  the  laborers.  In  other  countries 
the  Indian  has  served,  in  Brazil  it  has  been  the 
negro.  Although  democratic  ideas  have  a power- 
ful hold  on  the  people,  the  monarchy  was  so  recent- 
ly destroyed  that  in  their  minds  an  aristocracy  of 
blood  still  prevails,  but  this  aristocracy  is  really 
one  of  land,  of  money.  If  any  man  by  his  own 
ability  makes  money  he  can  break  into  the  upper 
class  with  nearly  the  same  ease  as  he  can  in  the 
United  States.  This  aristocracy  represents  the  cul- 
ture, the  education  and  the  society  of  Brazil;  it 
does  not  contain  all  the  brains,  nor  all  the  ambition ; 
the  people  are  beginning  to  think  and  to  realize 
that  the  power  of  the  ballot  may  sometime  equal 
that  of  inheritance  or  of  the  sword. 

The  Brazilian  is  proud;  he  can  be  led  but  not 
driven;  he  likes  to  have  his  own  way.  His  imag- 


232 


BRAZIL 


ination  carries  him  into  great  projects,  and  he  is 
proud  to  have  devised  in  fancy  a future  capital  of 
the  republic  on  the  plateau  of  Goyaz;  he  exults  in 
the  newly  finished  city  of  Bello  Horizonte  in 
Minas,  and  that  the  city  of  Santos  completed  the 
harbor  and  drainage  works  at  Santos,  both  of 
which  would  be  a credit  to  any  nation.  He  takes 
delight  in  the  new  city  of  Rio,  in  the  scheme  for  a 
canal  connecting  Lake  Mirim  with  the  Atlantic, 
and  he  is  enthusiastic  over  the  inland  railroad  to 
stretch  from  Sao  Paulo  to  Rio  Grande.  He  is 
quick-witted  enough  to  recognize  advantages  when 
they  occur  to  him,  or  when  explained  by  kindly 
counsel  instead  of  by  obtrusive,  patronizing  advice. 

In  financial  directions  his  schemes  are  visionary; 
the  country  is  loaded  by  a foreign  debt,  the  money 
from  which  has  not  always  been  spent  for  its  in- 
tended purpose;  but  her  debts  should  not  be  bur- 
densome to  a country  so  rich  as  Brazil  if  she  grows 
normally;  she  pays  these  debts  with  creditable  reg- 
ularity, even  if  on  some  occasions  a refunding  debt 
is  assumed.  This  financial  imagination  and  pride 
allows  the  Brazilian  to  resort  with  unnecessary 
freedom  to  the  state  for  funds. 

Brazil  has  built  national  and  state  railroads  and 
harbors,  subsidized  steamship  and  colonial  prod- 
ucts, and  threatens  to  try  to  maintain  the  price  of 
coffee  out  of  government  funds;  yet  her  statesmen 
could  not,  owing  to  the  impetuosity  of  the  nation, 
arrange  to  pay  the  owners  for  manumitted  slaves, 


SALIENT  TRAITS 


233 


nor  can  her  financiers  see  how  vital  it  is  to  her 
future  prosperity  to  set  free  the  land  for  genuine 
immigration,  even  if  it  compels  the  payment  of 
cash  to  shadowy  owners  of  shadowy  titles. 

Brazilians  are  lazy.  Their  indolence  is  largely 
induced  by  a tropical  life,  but  it  depends  to  some 
extent  upon  the  fact  that  for  generations  they  have 
tilled  the  soil  and  built  their  cities  through  im- 
ported hands.  They  employ  foreign  engineers  be- 
cause they  are  too  lazy  to  learn ; they  hire  overseers 
or  managers — factors — for  their  coffee  estates,  be- 
cause they  are  too  lazy  to  study  agriculture  and 
transportation,  preferring  to  spend  their  money, 
often  foolishly  or  wickedly,  in  Paris.  With  some 
of  the  best  cattle  and  grazing-land  in  the  world, 
they  prefer  to  pay  fabulous  prices  for  European 
or  Argentine  stock,  because  they  are  too  lazy  to 
take  the  trouble  to  adopt,  on  their  own  account, 
advanced  principles  of  breeding.  They  buy  food- 
stuffs abroad  and  are  content  to  scratch  the  ground 
with  an  Egyptian  plow.  They  are  too  short- 
sighted to  see  and  too  lazy  to  care  that  their  neigh- 
bor raises  wheat  and  is  growing  rich  thereby. 

Yet  the  Brazilian  is  ambitious,  and  will  try  to 
overcome  his  defects  if  his  indolence  does  not  over- 
come him.  This  ambition  will  be  the  making  of  a 
real  nation,  for  it  breathes  a national  spirit  and 
gives  to  the  phrase,  “I  am  a Brazilian,”  a meaning 
akin  to  our  own  “I  am  an  American.”  There  is 
something  large  and  hopeful  in  his  tone;  and 


234 


BRAZIL 


though  idleness,  neglect  and  unprogressiveness  are 
now  surface  marks,  ambition  is  surely  a part  of  his 
character  and  is  only  concealed  by  these  overlying 
defects.  Beneath,  he  is  determined  to  do  things, 
to  do  them  himself,  in  his  own  way,  and  finally  to 
make  that  way  the  proper  way.  This  determina- 
tion arouses  a sympathy  in  my  heart  which  out- 
weighs all  the  ridicule  I have  heard  heaped  upon 
the  country.  The  Brazilians  are  not  stupid,  nor,  in 
the  catch-penny  word  of  pseudo-science,  “degen- 
erate”; they  are  merely  passing  through  a national 
crisis,  and,  although  they  do  not  yet  quite  know 
what  their  own  way  is  to  be,  there  is  no  doubt  but 
that  a great  future  awaits  them. 

It  seems  an  easy  explanation  for  most  of  the 
shortcomings  of  the  world,  that  education  is  at 
fault;  of  course,  much  depends  upon  the  quality  of 
education,  and  we  ourselves  appear  to  be  suffering 
rather  from  an  excess  than  from  an  under-supply 
of  the  raw  material.  In  Brazil,  however,  I noticed 
that  many  facilities  for  education  are  lacking,  and 
that  what  can  be  obtained  is  often  crude  and  super- 
ficial. There  is  no  compulsory  education  law  in 
the  republic,  and  even  if  there  were  a law  it  could 
be  no  better  enforced  than  in  other  Latin  Amer- 
ican countries,  because  the  people  do  not  care  for 
it.  The  last  trustworthy  census  (1890)  gives  an 
illiteracy  of  four-fifths  and  an  illegitimacy  of  one- 
eighth  (in  the  United  States  the  illiteracy  all  told 
above  school  age  is  about  one-twelfth,  but  this  in- 


LAX  MORALITY 


235 


eludes  the  negro,  as  it  does  in  Brazil;  negro  illiter- 
acy in  the  United  States  is  about  ninety  per  cent,  of 
the  whole,  as  is  probably  the  case  in  Brazil  also, 
but  their  negro  population  is  twenty-five  per  cent., 
while  ours  is  only  eleven  per  cent,  of  the  whole). 
In  the  big  cities,  any  child  who  wants  it  can  get  a 
primary  education,  and  the  scheme  for  advanced 
or  technical  instruction  looks  well  on  paper;  yet 
every  one  whose  opinion  I valued  confessed  that 
higher  courses  were  sadly  deficient.  Medicine  is 
well  taught  but  by  no  means  skilfully  practised, 
and  the  best  physicians  have  studied  in  Europe. 
Law  is  law  the  world  over,  but  resort  to  it  in  Brazil 
is  surprisingly  costly,  wearisome  and  full  of  delays. 
Training  is  what  the  Brazilian  lacks;  thorough- 
ness, willingness  to  attack  a problem,  to  carry  it  to 
its  conclusion  and  to  apply  the  solution. 

The  greatest  evil  in  Brazil,  however,  is  a laxity 
of  moral  tone.  Commercially  I can  not  find  that 
they  are  better  or  worse  than  we  in  the  United 
States;  they  have  scandals,  peculations  and  defalca- 
tions, but  in  international  dealings  their  public  and 
private  reputation  is  excellent.  Politically  I heard 
of  insincere  and  rotten  conduct,  without  going  out 
of  my  way  to  listen  for  it,  but  there  have  been  pa- 
triots whose  motives  were  as  pure  as  any  that  ever 
actuated  man.  The  pessimist  will  tell  you  that  in 
the  building  of  the  new  Avenida  in  Rio,  for  in- 
stance, certain  men  got  rich  through  the  buying 
and  selling  of  land,  while  others  made  fortunes 


236 


BRAZIL 


through  contracts  and  supplies.  The  optimist,  on 
the  other  hand,  will  acknowledge  the  extravagance 
of  the  plan  and  the  opportunity  it  offered  for  some 
to  get  the  better  of  their  fellows,  but  he  will  with 
promptness  assert  that  to  have  accomplished  the 
project  of  making  Rio  a clean,  healthy  city,  is 
worth  all  it  cost  and  should  lead  to  forgiveness  of 
such  human  sins. 

Minor  contractors,  employees  and  business  men 
have  told  me  that  to  get  a thing  done  through  a 
government  office,  or  to  expedite  the  preparation 
of  papers,  it  is  necessary  to  resort  to  bribery  in  or- 
der to  reach  a satisfactory  end.  That  touches  the 
vital  point;  there  seems  to  be  no  fixed  value  to  any- 
thing, no  open,  recognized,  published  tariff  in  big 
things  or  little.  In  shopping  one  must  haggle  and 
bargain  in  a manner  scarcely  known  to  us,  while 
in  affairs  outside  the  shop  a perquisite  accompanies 
a price — the  tipping  system  has  attached  itself  to 
all  business.  The  fact  that  we  stand  aghast  at  the 
disclosed  relationship  between  our  large  corpora- 
tions and  business  or  political  interests,  shows  that 
as  a nation  we  resent  the  graft  evil  and  expect  a 
square  deal,  even  if  we  do  not  get  it.  Any  fee  or 
tariff  in  Brazil  serves  only  as  an  estimate  for  the 
minimum  expense. 

This  intrudes  into  details  of  daily  life.  One  must 
be  sharp  not  to  pay  too  much,  and  know  when  to 
pay  enough;  and  the  foreigner  who  goes  deeper 
than  the  ordinary  traveler  into  association  with  the 


A KINDLY  PEOPLE 


23  7 

people  becomes  confused  at  the  elusiveness  of  the 
truth. 

This  disregard  for  accuracy,  the  absence  of  what 
we  call  the  New  England  conscience,  and  the  lax 
relations  between  the  sexes,  are  the  bad  features  of 
Brazil.  Getting  trustworthy  statistics,  or  data  on 
which  to  base  any  proceeding  or  transaction,  is  an 
unsatisfactory  task;  government  information  is  usu- 
ally out  of  date  and  inaccurate;  national  affairs  are 
so  scattered  that  seldom  can  complete  details  be 
found  in  one  place;  some  of  the  states  present  in- 
formation of  their  own,  which,  though  not  always 
exact,  is  more  nearly  so  and  more  up  to  date  than 
that  offered  by  the  nation. 

With  all  this  said,  the  worst  arraignment  against 
the  Brazilian  is  made.  Some  of  his  faults  are  racial 
and  can  be  eradicated  only  by  a newer  code  and  by 
fresher  blood;  most  of  them  are  traditional,  begun 
in  the  early  history  of  the  country  and  nourished 
by  the  monarchy  and  by  slavery.  Their  virtues 
speak  for  themselves  on  acquaintance.  Quick- 
witted, cordial,  kindly,  hospitable  in  town  and 
country,  the  Brazilian  possesses  a charm  which 
softens  much  of  the  annoyance  felt  at  the  indolence, 
the  lack  of  system  and  the  irreligion  in  the  coun- 
try. His  virtues  will  be  preserved  and  his  vices 
thrust  into  the  background,  when  once  he  comes 
under  the  sway  of  a proper  education. 

That  education  is  needed  they  are  beginning  to 
see  for  themselves.  No  longer  can  the  emperor 


238 


BRAZIL 


take  the  initiative  and  import  ideas  and  methods  in 
a paternal  way;  his  scheme  was  commendable,  but 
he  fostered  a dependence  which,  in  the  long  run, 
hurt  the  nation;  not  much  longer  will  the  govern- 
ment be  obliged  to  begin  a work  before  the  people 
realize  that  they  need  it,  for  beneath  the  surface 
lies  an  ambition  to  learn  things  and  to  do  things 
in  an  American  way.  There  are  plenty  who  will 
say  that  the  Brazilians  are  a worthless  race,  unable 
to  raise  themselves  out  of  the  muck  into  which  they 
assert  the  country  has  fallen;  but  there  are  others 
who  recognize  and  are  proud  of  the  real  strength 
latent  in  the  race.  Brazilians  could  teach  us  much 
in  the  way  of  culture;  their  innate  love  of  the 
artistic,  their  appreciation  of  beauty,  their  subjec- 
tion to  an  imagination  which  does  not  always  im- 
ply superstition,  their  more  placid  philosophy  of 
life,  which  is  free  from  the  unwholesomeness  of 
worry — all  could  be  added  to  our  nervous  energy 
without  harm.  They  resent  our  scolding  them; 
they  are  irritated  at  our  bombastic  assumption  of 
an  unapproachable  superiority,  but  they  are  will- 
ing enough  to  follow  if  we  set  them  a good  exam- 
ple. Their  quick  wit  allows  them  to  detect  our 
faults  as  well  as  our  virtues;  their  newspapers, 
which  are  fine  specimens  of  daily  literature,  out- 
spoken in  criticism  and  as  fearless  in  judgment, 
form  a completely  free  press,  free  even  from  the 
yellow  mendacity  of  some  of  our  own  papers,  exert- 
ing immense  influence  upon  public  opinion,  and 


Botafogo  Crescent — Rio  de  Janeiro 


Sugar  Loaf  and  Harbor — Rio 


AMERICAN  INFLUENCE 


239 

they  are  not  slow  to  lay  bare  our  defects  nor  un- 
willing to  give  credit  when  we  deserve  it. 

One  sometimes  hears  that  Brazilians  do  not,  as 
a rule,  like  foreigners.  My  observation  was  that 
they  are  not  insular  or  prejudiced,  and  that  for- 
eigners among  them  who  benefit  the  country  re- 
ceive a thoroughly  honest  welcome. 

Any  one  who  followed  the  colporteur  on  his  by- 
path journeys  across  Brazil  knows  that  it  is  not 
always  contempt  or  bigotry  which  perpetuates 
ignorance,  but  that  quite  as  often  the  native  never 
before  had  opportunity  to  find  out  truth  for  him- 
self. Any  one  who  has  followed  the  daily  round  of 
the  true  missionary  among  rich  or  poor,  cultured  or 
unlettered,  aristocrat  or  peasant,  and  has  seen  the 
eagerness  with  which  progressive  Christianity  is 
received,  knows  that  the  Brazilian  has  plenty  of 
grace  in  him.  Our  church  envoys  are  teaching 
cleanliness  as  well  as  religion,  chastity  as  well  as 
good  manners,  industry  as  well  as  genuflection, 
physical  as  well  as  spiritual  uplifting;  all  this  in 
the  name  of  America.  One  of  the  most  powerful 
agents  in  making  familiar  to  Brazil  the  ambitions 
of  our  country,  is  the  American  missionary,  and  a 
large  proportion  of  the  newer  education  offered  to 
Brazilians  comes  from  religious  sources. 

In  Sao  Paulo  we  have  Mackenzie  College  with 
its  American  curriculum,  professors  and  technical 
school,  all  in  Portuguese;  some  of  the  best  of  Bra- 
zilian youth  go  there  and  many  of  them  come  to  the 


240 


BRAZIL 


United  States  or  tell  their  friends  to  do  so,  in  order 
to  acquire  more  advanced  training  than  can  be 
found  at  home;  hardly  a steamer  leaves  for  Brazil 
but  carries  back  young  fellows  who  have  been  to 
the  States  for  a year  or  more  to  study  some  branch 
of  applied  science,  and  who  spread  the  gospel  of 
work  and  American  enterprise. 

The  Sao  Paulo  Tramways  Light  and  Power 
Company  is  one  of  the  greatest  educational  forces 
I ever  saw.  Its  capital  is  part  English,  its  charter 
is  Canadian,  but  its  spirit  is  what  we  call  Amer- 
ican; it  has  revolutionized  conditions  in  Sao  Paulo 
and  Rio;  it  shows  what  vast  possibilities  the  coun- 
try possesses;  its  example  of  energy  is  spreading 
like  a contagion  to  all  the  cities,  and  the  idea  of 
using  the  inexhaustible  water  supply  to  furnish 
electricity,  as  at  Niagara,  for  the  power  industries 
of  Brazil  has  found  root.  In  the  chat  of  the  street, 
the  slothful,  arrogant  coffee  merchant’s  son,  whose 
snobbishness  was  his  chief  glory,  is  developing  an 
ambition  to  speak  English  and  to  be  an  employee  of 
the  Litanpaua  company. 

It  is  a fair  field  and  no  favor  in  Brazil.  If  we 
enter  this  field  in  a straight-forward  industrial 
way,  we  shall  find  England  and  Germany  ahead  of 
us.  England  has  built  railways  and  drainage  sys- 
tems; she  has  steamboats,  banks  and  telegraphs,  she 
has  loaned  publicly  or  privately  £70,000,000. 
Whatever  England  does  is  solid  and  substantial, 
and  her  influence  in  commercial  and  diplomatic 


EUROPEAN  INFLUENCE 


241 


circles  is  very  great.  Germany,  too,  is  recently  ad- 
vancing into  Brazil  in  a way  we  can  hardly  real- 
ize; she  has  banks  in  Rio  and  Sao  Paulo  with 
branches  in  other  cities,  but  I can  not  ascertain 
that  Germany  has  invested  much  actual  money  in 
the  country.  Her  engineers  are  active  in  various 
enterprises,  and  her  commercial  agents  are  selling 
goods  all  over  the  country  and  crowding  Eng- 
lish trade,  because  they  study  markets  that  the  alert 
consuls  detect  for  them.  Germany  has  two  subsi- 
dized transatlantic  steamer  lines  touching  at  the 
larger  harbors,  and  in  1906  established  under 
the  Brazilian  flag  a fleet  of  coasting  steamers  be- 
tween Rio  and  Buenos  Aires.  This  represents  one 
method  by  which  Germany  is  spreading  her  sphere 
of  influence;  in  the  south,  aid  and  money  are  given 
to  schools  and  hospitals,  and  newspapers  are  en- 
couraged to  keep  alive  a warm  memory  of  the  old 
home. 

Italy  protects  her  citizens  well  as  long  as  they  re- 
main Italians,  and  there  are  Italian  banks  and  busi- 
ness houses,  but  the  nation  is  not  aggressive. 

France  supplies  culture,  fashion  and  wickedness 
to  Brazil,  and  both  seem  satisfied. 


VENEZUELAN  STATISTICS 


Area,  593,843  square  miles.  Population,  2,750,000;  per 
square  mile,  4. 

Foreign  debt,  $25,045,900;  per  capita,  $9.50. 

Money — Gold  standard.  Currency:  Silver  dollars  (peso) 
at  par ; fractional  metal  currency ; paper,  occasionally. 

Trade  Statistics  (1903) — Exports:  Total,  $7,653,000;  to 
the  United  States,  35  per  cent.;  England,  1.20  per  cent.; 
Germany,  5 per  cent.  Imports:  Total,  $5,425,000;  from  the 
United  States,  35  per  cent. ; England,  24  per  cent. ; Ger- 
many, 20  per  cent. 

Investments  in  the  coun- 
try : Of  English  money, 
$50,000,000 ; German,  $20,- 
000,000 ; American,  $2,500,- 
000. 

Miles  of  railway,  525 ; 
government  owned,  none ; 
subsidized,  525. 

Capital,  Caracas;  popu- 
lation, 60,000. 

Army,  10,000;  navy,  a 
few  small  gunboats. 


GERMANY 

Area,  208,830  square  miles.  Popula- 
tion, 57,000,000;  per  square  mile,  270. 

Army,  520,000  officers  and  men  (ex- 
clusive of  reserves) ; navy,  468,500 
tons. 

National  debt,  $755,857,000.00. 

Total  imports  (1905),  $1,696,660,- 

000.00;  total  exports  (1905),  $1,364,- 
131,000.00. 


242 


Part  ot  United  States. Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Wisconsin,  Michigan  & Iowa  shown  in  red 


CHAPTER  FIFTEEN 


VENEZUELA 

GEOGRAPHY 

Venezuela  lies  wholly  within  the  tropics.  Ca- 
racas, 700  miles  from  the  equator,  is  due  south  of 
Eastport,  Maine,  the  easternmost  point  of  the 
United  States.  The  country  approaches  to  i°  40’ 
N.  about  100  miles  from  the  equator,  and  reaches 
to  120  26'  about  850  miles  northward.  At  the  wid- 
est part  it  measures  750  miles;  this  is  at  the  center; 
the  eastern  and  western  limits  are  scarcely  more 
than  half  this  width.  Longitudinally  Venezuela 
measures  420  miles  each  side  of  Caracas,  which  lies 
about  half-way  from  east  to  west,  close  to  the  north- 
ern boundary  on  the  Caribbean  Sea.  On  the  east 
lies  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  British  Guiana,  on  the 
west  Colombia,  to  the  south  is  Brazil. 

The  area  of  the  country  is  593,843  square  miles, 
not  quite  one-fifth  the  size  of  the  United  States. 
Within  its  confines  are  all  varieties  of  climate, 
from  the  rubber-growing  jungles  of  the  Orinoco 
and  Rio  Negro,  through  sugar,  cotton,  cacao,  cof- 
fee, corn,  tobacco  and  wheat  regions  to  the  conifer- 

243 


244 


VENEZUELA 


ous  pines  of  the  Andean  snows;  but  it  is  well  to 
omit  the  extremes  and  to  consider  Venezuela  as  a 
semitropical  land  whose  products  are  sugar,  to- 
bacco, cotton,  coffee,  corn  and  cattle.  One-half  the 
total  area  may  be  ignored;  it  is  either  Amazonian 
or  Alaskan,  and  even  if  drained,  can  not,  without 
future  scientific  adjustment  to  environment,  be  hab- 
itable for  the  Anglo-Saxon.  This  by  no  means  im- 
plies that  the  soil  is  unproductive  or  unfit  for  use. 
On  the  contrary,  the  Orinoco  Valley  is  as  rich  as 
the  Amazon  and  in  time  will  become  as  fertile  as 
any  wholly  tropical  region  of  the  world ; yet  it  will 
probably  never  be  the  home  of  the  white  man.  If 
he  lives  there,  it  will  be  only  for  money-making, 
since  labor  in  it  is  performed  by  an  inferior  race 
that  does  not  deteriorate  below  a working  standard 
while  reproducing  itself  with  the  fecundity  of  any 
tropic  animal. 

Above  the  Orinoco  Valley  and  higher,  on  the 
llanos  westward  toward  the  sierras,  are  tracts  of 
forest  and  prairie  land  practically  unexplored  by 
the  industrial  white.  The  old  Spaniards  visited 
there  and  indefinite  tribes  of  semibarbarian  In- 
dians still  dwell  on  these  plateaus.  Probably  it  is 
good  pasturage  for  cattle;  but  as  yet  only  rumors 
of  its  character  reach  northward  and  explorers  say 
that  floods  of  tropic  rains,  pests  of  mosquitoes  and 
other  enemies  to  tranquil  life  are  factors  that  for 
years  to  come  will  keep  out  all  but  the  most  ad- 
venturous. It  would  seem  to  bear  some  resemblance 


The  Old  in  Venezuela 


The  New  in  Venezuela 


Harbor  at  Puerto  Cabello 


PRODUCTIVE  AREA 


245 


to  the  interior  of  tropical  Brazil,  which  is  higher 
and  more  easily  reached.  For  present  purposes  this 
part  of  Venezuela  may  be  left  out  of  consideration ; 
its  counterpart  can  not  be  found  in  the  United 
States,  though  an  analogy  might  be  the  Everglades 
of  Florida  mixed  with  the  Salton  Sea  and  the 
desert  of  Arizona. 

But  the  better  half  of  Venezuela  is  in  charming 
contrast  to  this  terra  incognita  of  the  tropics.  It 
forms  a strip  at  the  most  150  miles  wide  on  the 
eastern  edge  south  of  Cumana,  widening  for  its 
550  miles  westward  along  the  Caribbean  Sea  to 
Maracaibo,  where  it  becomes  300  miles  wide  to  the 
south,  upward  on  to  the  slope  of  the  Andean  Cor- 
dilleras. This  region  embraces  some  of  the  most 
beautiful  country  ever  occupied  by  man.  It  is  all 
tropic,  but  in  only  a narrow  space  between  the  sea 
and  the  abrupt  sierras  running  east  and  west,  and 
around  Maracaibo  Lake,  is  there  the  heat,  the 
moisture,  the  oppression  which  make  mischief  with 
one’s  energies  and  morale.  Puerto  Cabello,  Coro, 
La  Guayra,  Barcelona  are  typical  seaports  where 
life,  though  by  no  means  unhealthy,  must  neces- 
sarily be  sluggish,  indolent  and  oriental.  Other 
shipping  points  on  the  Caribbean  have  some  ad- 
vantages in  climate  or  scenery;  Guanta  is  modern, 
progressive  and  picturesque;  Cumana  is  beautiful; 
its  fine  setting  among  the  hills  on  the  river  and 
bay,  the  historical  background  and  its  political  im- 
portance as  capital  of  the  state  of  Bermudez,  make 


246 


VENEZUELA 


it  superior  to  other  coast  cities.  Still,  the  coast  is 
subordinate  to  the  interior  as  a dwelling-place. 

In  this  respect  there  is  a singular  contrast  to  Bra- 
zil, where,  although  the  configuration  of  the  coast 
is  not  unlike  that  of  Venezuela,  the  settlers  have 
always  clung  to  the  water.  Bahia,  Pernambuco  and 
Rio  are  the  great  centers  of  colonial  life;  only  Sao 
Paulo  represents  what  from  the  first  took  place  in 
Venezuela.  The  interiors  of  the  two  countries  are 
quite  comparable,  but  the  Spanish  swarmed  here 
behind  the  mountains  and  made  settlements  for  400 
miles  within  these  valleys,  leaving  the  water  towns 
to  be  mere  stations  of  entrance  and  exit. 

No  one  can  blame  them.  As  far  as  taste  and  in- 
stinct for  location  of  cities  are  concerned,  the 
Spanish  of  Venezuela  were  no  whit  behind  those 
of  Mexico,  Chile  or  Argentina,  and  selected  earth’s 
most  beautiful  districts  for  settlement  and  home. 
Directly  south  of  Caracas  the  mountain  valleys  of- 
fered little  opportunity  for  urban  settlement.  East 
of  Caracas  (in  the  federal  district)  lie  the  states  of 
Miranda  and  Bermudez,  but  relatively  speaking 
they  were  not  populated,  as  was  the  country  west  of 
Caracas,  through  the  valleys  of  the  Tuy  and  the 
Aragua  toward  the  Lake  of  Valencia,  and  thence 
southward  against  the  slope  of  the  Andes  as  far  as 
the  states  of  Tachira,  Trujillo  and  Zamora.  No 
word-painting  can  convey  the  beauties  of  this  land- 
scape where  mountains  seem  to  caress  the  valleys, 
where  lake  and  river,  forest  and  meadow,  field  and 


CLIMATE 


247 


pasture  are  so  warm  and  green  in  the  clear  and 
balmy  air,  that  if  ever  man  finds  a paradise,  it  will 
be  in  Venezuela. 

It  must  be  seen  and  felt  to  be  understood — this 
beauty  of  the  region ; but  even  the  material-minded 
can  not  turn  away  in  disappointment,  for  he  will 
see  that  nature  has  made  the  soil  as  rich  as  the 
region  is  beautiful,  and  almost  everything  man  can 
ask  for  will  grow  for  the  planting — corn  and 
wheat,  peas,  beans,  potatoes,  all  the  tropic  fruits 
like  oranges,  but  seldom  pears  or  apples;  and  the 
great  staples,  cotton  and  coffee.  Where  crops  are 
not  grown  is  pasturage  for  cattle  by  the  million,  if 
only  they  were  bred  with  the  care  shown  in  Argen- 
tina. If  a hardier  product  be  required,  the  native 
woods  for  manufacturing  are  at  hand  without  stint. 
Food  supply  for  100,000,000  people  can,  without 
exaggeration,  be  gathered  from  this  favored  gar- 
den, nor  need  a thought  be  given  the  next  winter’s 
coal  supply,  because  the  weather  varies  only  from 
spring  to  summer  and  back  again. 

Here  life  may  be  a constant  out-of-doors.  To  be 
sure,  they  have  hot  days,  with  the  mercury  at  85° 
F.,  and  cold  days,  as  low  as  450  F. ; in  the  dry  sea- 
son, from  October  to  April,  when  there  are  few 
rains,  there  is  some  dust  and  much  sunshine.  In 
the  rainy  season  one’s  feet  get  wet,  the  railways 
suffer  from  land-slides,  or  the  roads  are  muddy 
and  perhaps  impassable  (the  climate  is  not  to  be 
blamed  for  this,  however)  ; but  never  the  draughts 


248 


VENEZUELA 


of  other  health-resorts,  or  the  chill  winds  that  com- 
pel one  to  stay  indoors  and  think  of  a furnace  back 
east.  There  is  not  too  much  moisture,  there  are  no 
indigenous  diseases  to  be  feared;  areas  with  the 
dryness  of  Santa  Fe,  New  Mexico,  can  be  found, 
and  the  fault  will  not  be  with  the  climate  but  with 
man,  if  he  be  not  satisfied  with  it.  If  this  part  of 
the  earth  has  any  defect,  it  is  that  earthquakes  are 
more  numerous  here  than  in  Illinois,  and  more 
disastrous;  but  thousands  of  persons  take  their 
chances,  just  as  they  do  on  railways  in  the  States, 
and  every  year  a goodly  number  survive. 

Coal  has  been  discovered  in  usable  quantities, 
and  it  needs  only  an  industrial  awakening  to  pro- 
duce a market.  The  same  statement  can  be  made 
of  iron;  so  that  Venezuela  has  all  the  ingredients 
for  modern  activity. 

This  habitable  region  is  not  isolated  in  the  pres- 
ent sense  of  the  word.  Already  two  main  arteries 
of  commercial  travel  are  supplied,  and  there  is 
room  for  more.  It  is  superior  to  Argentina  in  this 
one  respect,  that  neither  nature  nor  man  has  con- 
fined the  outlet  to  one  direction.  From  Caracas  the 
old  Spanish  highway  leads  over  the  mountain  to 
La  Guayra;  from  Valencia  another  leads  to  Puerto 
Cabello,  and  both  are  paralleled  by  railways  of 
good  construction  which  can  hurry  crops  to  tide- 
water. The  valleys  between  these  chief  cities,  the 
richest  and  most  thickly  populated  in  northern 
South  America,  have  been  laced  by  roads  along 


HARBORS 


249 


which  communication  is  maintained  by  mules  or 
oxen.  Farther  back,  to  Tachira,  the  country,  fa- 
miliar only  with  mule  paths,  is  waiting  for  modern 
civilization  to  build  the  not  difficult  iron  way. 
Barcelona  and  Cumana  on  the  east,  natural  outlets 
for  the  country  back  of  them,  are  not  at  all  cut  off 
from  Caracas,  while  Maracaibo  to  the  west  gives 
outlet  to  an  immense  territory  at  the  south. 

Eastward  and  southward  there  is  drainage  into 
the  Orinoco,  and  steamers  ascend  beyond  Ciudad 
Bolivar,  within  easy  distance  of  the  plateaus.  It 
may  now  take  ten  days  to  journey  from  the  interior 
to  the  coast,  but  it  should  be  a matter  of  hours  only 
to  reach  ships  and  a larger  market.  Not  all  of  the 
harbors  are  by  nature  worthy  the  name.  Puerto  Ca- 
bello  can  shelter  modern  craft,  and  Maracaibo  and 
Coro,  but  La  Guayra  is  an  open  roadstead  pro- 
tected by  a mole.  Nevertheless,  what  engineering 
skill  has  done  for  Argentina  it  can  do  in  Venezuela, 
when  she  demands  it. 

These  are  but  problems  of  the  hour.  The  great 
and  unavoidable  fact  is  that  here,  accessible  to  man, 
capable  of  supporting  with  only  moderate  effort 
millions  of  human  beings,  are  millions  of  rich  acres 
offering  home  to  the  white  man  of  all  races;  these 
acres  are  fallow  or  virgin,  untilled  by  the  plow, 
even  unused  except  by  a scant  two  millions  of  in- 
habitants who  do  scarcely  as  much  as  their  ances- 
tors did  a century  ago. 


CHAPTER  SIXTEEN 


VENEZUELA 

HISTORY 

At  Cumana,  in  the  middle  east  of  Venezuela,  is 
the  oldest  European  settlement  in  America.  The 
town  was  founded  in  1512  by  the  Spaniards  but 
was  abandoned  when  the  pugnacious  Indians  re- 
fused to  be  immediately  converted  and  enslaved,  so 
that  Panama,  founded  in  1519,  has  been  the  oldest 
continuous  habitation.  But  Cumana  was  rein- 
vested, and  for  almost  four  centuries  it  has  watched 
the  forces  of  the  western  world  trying  to  penetrate 
the  tough  crust  of  tradition  brought  over  by  the 
Spanish  along  with  their  search  for  gold.  Past  the 
island  of  Trinidad,  along  this  coast,  Columbus 
made  his  third  voyage  in  1498,  and  undoubtedly  his 
first  glimpse  of  the  mainland,  if  not  the  only  place 
where  he  set  foot,  was  near  Cumana  in  Venezuela. 
Las  Casas,  the  one  true  friend  of  the  Indian,  and 
alas!  the  reputed  father  of  American  slavery,  was 
a priest  in  Cumana. 

The  settlements  grew  and  flourished  in  the  val- 
leys; Maracaibo  was  founded  in  1529,  and  there- 

250 


THE  SPANISH  MAIN 


2H 


after  were  planted  interior  cities  as  far  as  the  slope 
of  the  Andes  at  San  Cristobal  in  1561,  but  always 
it  was  El  Dorado  that  lured.  These  cities  nestling 
among  the  brown  hills,  formed  the  Spanish  Main, 
and  when  the  baroneted  pirates  of  England  and 
Holland  were  not  engaged  in  the  spiderish  pastime 
of  capturing  galleons  with  Pacific  treasures,  they 
enjoyed  themselves  by  landing  on  the  coast  and 
sacking  the  seemingly  secure  abodes  of  those  who 
collected  gold  nearer  at  hand.  Not  a league  of  the 
200  miles  east  and  west  of  the  Silla  but  has  history 
of  battle,  wreck,  and  sunken  treasure;  not  a valley 
with  its  cathedral  spire  but  can  tell  of  sack,  ambus- 
cade, slaughter  and  buried  pieces-of-eight. 

The  Indians,  driven  to  despair  by  the  pious  cru- 
elties of  the  conquerors,  revolted  when  they  could 
stand  no  more;  the  mestizos,  ignored  by  the 
haughty  overlords  of  purer  blood,  revolted  when 
with  indignity  they  were  denied  the  exercise  of 
those  very  rights  which  the  government  of  Spain 
had  put  on  paper  for  their  benefit.  The  whole 
colony  of  Nueva  Granada  revolted  against  the 
mother  country  when  every  promise  had  been  de- 
nied them,  and  decency  in  foreign  rule  had  ceased 
to  be  even  a phrase  in  the  council  of  Sevilla. 

From  the  earliest  times  to  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century  Spain  had  only  exploited  her 
colonies;  her  rulers  knew  nothing  of  them  except 
that  those  who  did  not  die  there  came  home  rich 
after  some  years  of  a government  clerkship.  Mis- 


252 


VENEZUELA 


rule  and  revolt  were  as  familiar  in  the  New  Spain 
as  they  were  in  the  Old — and  then  the  separation 
came. 

Caracas — Venezuela — is  the  cradle  of  South 
American  liberty.  Bolivar,  Miranda,  and  Sucre 
are  three  truly  noble  heroes;  yet  Bolivar  died  a 
disappointed  man,  Miranda’s  life  ended  in  a 
Spanish  prison,  and  Sucre  was  assassinated  after 
serving  three  new  nations  honorably  and  well.  The 
only  practical  inheritance  they  have  given  to  lib- 
erty is  license  and  revolt.  The  lesson  Spain  had 
not  learned  and  which  Spanish  America  is  so  slow 
to  learn,  is  the  simple  one  of  obedience  to  law. 
From  the  day  that  Bolivar  aroused  the  revolution- 
ary forces  in  1810  till  the  separation  of  Venezuela 
from  Nueva  Granada,  history  records  fighting,  dic- 
tatorships and  rebellion.  There  was  righteousness 
in  it,  too,  because  the  Spanish  royalists  violated 
their  treaties  and  so  abused  the  patriots,  who  were 
eager  to  accept  a decent  peace,  that  revolt  was  the 
only  resort. 

The  first  constitution  of  1820,  for  the  countries 
now  known  as  Ecuador,  Colombia  and  Venezuela, 
was  a replica  of  that  of  the  United  States,  with  a 
more  centralized  government.  This  was  soon 
broken  by  the  military  authority  of  Bolivar  him- 
self. Bolivar  quarreled  writh  Peru  and  Ecuador — 
a logical  consequence  of  the  enormous  extent  of  the 
region  his  ambition  and  popularity  had  placed  un- 
der his  nominal  control.  The  Captain  General  of 


Traveling  in  South  America 


Bolivar  Square — Caracas 


THE  FIRST  PRESIDENT 


253 


Caracas  grew  jealous  of  Bogota  (Colombia)  and 
in  1829  threatened  to  withdraw  from  the  federa- 
tion. Quito  did  withdraw,  and  when  Bolivar  died, 
in  1830,  the  inchoate  mass  fell  to  pieces,  leaving  the 
three  nations  as  we  now  know  them,  Ecuador,  Co- 
lombia and  Venezuela. 

Venezuela  dates  its  independence  as  a fighting 
nation  from  1831.  Paez  was  its  first  president. 
Since  then,  seventy-six  intervening  years  have  seen 
fifty-two  revolutions  and  twenty-six  presidencies, 
sometimes  called  constitutional,  sometimes  provi- 
sional, with  a cheerful  intermixture  of  liberators, 
restorers  and  dictators  for  good  measure. 

It  is  both  an  easy  task  and  a difficult  one  to  nar- 
rate the  history  of  the  past  three  generations.  Easy, 
if  the  narrator  gives  only  the  wars,  the  rebellions, 
the  intrigues,  with  the  names  of  those  who  man- 
aged to  keep  on  the  surface ; but  difficult,  if  he  tries 
to  trace,  out  of  this  chaos  of  militarism  and  flow- 
ery theory,  the  growth  of  a people.  Probably  the 
only  reasonable  course  is  to  consider  the  people  as 
merely  an  ingredient  in  the  brew.  Paez  had  been 
one  of  Bolivar’s  best  friends  and  generals  and  final- 
ly became  a rival,  but  his  army  life  seems  not  to 
have  deprived  him  of  some  regard  for  a working 
democracy.  His  first  attempts  were  to  establish  a 
political  form,  like  that  of  the  United  States,  in 
which  the  suffrage  should  be  well  extended  and  the 
offices  largely  elective.  He  also  wished  to  be  eco- 
nomical and  moderate ; he  actually  showed  business 


*54 


VENEZUELA 


methods  in  the  collection  and  distribution  of  taxes, 
and  he  abolished  slavery  in  1834. 

Paez  was  succeeded  in  1835  by  one  of  the  few 
civilian  presidents,  Doctor  Vargas,  who  continued 
the  policy  of  his  predecessor,  founded  the  famous 
and  beautiful  Vargas  Hospital,  did  much  to  enrich 
and  embellish  Caracas,  and  actually  resigned  his 
office  poorer  than  when  he  took  it.  The  army, 
however,  which  had  been  shocked  and  grieved  at 
Vargas’  unmannerly  desire  to  rule  according  to 
law  and  to  subordinate  the  military  to  a secondary 
or  tertiary  place  in  the  body  politic,  started  an  in- 
fant revolution  in  his  first  year.  Old  General  Paez 
came  to  the  rescue  and  upheld  Vargas,  but  the  lat- 
ter did  not  outlast  his  full  term.  The  sword  proved 
mightier  than  the  pen.  Paez  was  reelected  in  1839, 
and  was  succeeded  in  1843  by  Soublette,  another 
revolutionary  fighter,  but  a disciple  and  follower 
of  Paez,  both  rating  the  statesman  as  high  as  the 
soldier.  Till  the  expiration  of  his  term,  peace  sur- 
vived in  Venezuela — almost  inaugurating  an  era 
of  good  feeling  in  this  South  American  republic. 

In  1846  there  was  a race  war  between  the  men 
of  color  and  the  creoles,  and  Paez  was  asked  to  be- 
come temporarily  a dictator,  since  the  constitu- 
tional government  seemed  unable  to  cope  with  such 
a rancorous  condition.  While  Paez  proclaimed 
martial  law  he  tried  to  arrange  for  an  elective 
choice  of  the  next  president,  thereby  showing  that 
he  understood  his  countrymen  as  little  as  did  Boli- 


REVOLUTIONS 


255 


var.  The  candidate  chosen  was  Monagas,  who  ig- 
nored the  constitution,  intimidated  the  electors  and 
compelled  them  to  usher  him  into  the  presidential 
office  in  1847.  Paez  refused  to  acknowledge  the 
legality  of  the  election,  and  revolted.  Monagas’ 
family  and  faction  were  so  strong  that  Paez  was 
defeated  and  taken  prisoner  in  1849,  but  sent  into 
pleasant  exile  in  New  York  in  1850.  The  Monagas 
brothers  alternated  in  power  eleven  years,  until 
1858.  They  were  dictators  pure  and  simple,  tricky 
and  underhanded ; their  chief  work  was  to  hold  of- 
fice, to  make  the  people  forget  what  the  constitu- 
tion meant,  and  to  arouse  the  passions  which  have 
ever  since  torn  at  the  vitals  of  poor  Venezuela. 

In  1858  Tadeo  Monagas  resigned  and  gave  as  a 
reason  that  his  health  would  be  improved  by  an 
oversea  climate;  the  truth  is  that  had  he  not  es- 
caped, he  would  have  been  expelled.  Three  parties 
then  struggled  for  power,  the  conservatives,  the 
democrats,  and  the  liberals  or  federalists.  Julian 
Castro,  a supposed  federal,  secured  an  election 
(1858)  but  soon  afterward  disappeared  so  effectu- 
ally as  to  escape  immortality  in  the  Century  dic- 
tionary of  names.  Gaul  had  control  for  a time  and 
reestablished  enough  tranquillity  to  secure  the  elec- 
tion of  Tovar  in  i860.  Paez  was  recalled  and  put 
at  the  head  of  the  army,  but  that  body  had  other 
ambitions  than  those  of  the  aging  hero,  and  he  re- 
tired once  more  to  oblivion.  In  1863  General  Fal- 
con appears  to  have  been  provisional  president  and 


256 


VENEZUELA’ 


after  two  years  of  plottings,  intrigues,  undignified 
finance  and  compromise,  was  chosen  constitutional 
president  in  1865.  The  country  became  a federal 
government,  the  United  States  of  Venezuela,  but 
the  unrest  and  discontent  waxed  fiercer  while  bank- 
ruptcy and  anarchy  approached  closer.  Nobody 
ruled,  everybody  stole;  there  was  not  enough 
money  to  pay  printers’  bills,  and  the  country  de- 
manded death  or  a dictator. 

If  it  is  true  that  a crisis  in  government  is  sure  to 
produce  a man  to  fit  the  emergency,  then  Ven- 
ezuela’s misfortunes  gave  opportunity  to  her  most 
eminent  commercial  hero,  Guzman  Blanco.  He 
had  served  in  positions  of  varying  importance  for 
several  years;  on  a mission  to  Europe  to  get  funds 
he  had  been  relatively  successful,  and  this  experi- 
ence taught  him  that  nations  were  not  made  by  ora- 
tory nor  by  the  old  ideas  of  chivalry  and  personal 
honor,  but  by  material  growth  and  careful  expendi- 
ture of  taxes;  he  had  been  a confidential  adviser  of 
more  than  one  midsummer’s  president,  and  his 
strength  grew  as  he  saw  how  weak  were  those  who 
pretended  to  manage  the  destinies  of  the  abused 
nation.  The  pen  had  been  used  to  sign  away  almost 
every  dollar  and  every  privilege  the  people 
claimed,  and  Blanco  was  compelled  to  use  the 
sword.  In  1870  Guzman  Blanco  proclaimed  him- 
self “General  in  Chief  of  the  Constitutional  Army 
of  the  Confederation,”  and  he  soon  after  became 
president.  He  was  elected  to  full  constitutional  au- 


GUZMAN  BLANCO 


257 

thority  in  1873  and,  with  slight  intermittent  pauses 
for  breath,  held  despotic  sway  till  1888.  But  he 
did  what  no  dictator  before  or  since  has  been  able 
to  accomplish — he  made  Venezuela  blossom  like 
the  rose.  He  ruled  with  a rod  of  iron  and  whipped 
into  the  selfish  and  short-sighted  oligarchy  some 
grains  of  common  sense;  if  he  had  only  had  a Cer- 
vantes at  his  back  to  laugh  away  the  pretensions  of 
statesmanship  with  wThich  the  wily  politicians  of 
the  Iberian  school  deluded  the  long  suffering  peo- 
ple, Guzman  Blanco,  with  all  his  thievery  and 
riches  stored  away  in  Paris,  would  indeed  have 
transformed  the  country  into  the  garden  of  the 
Caribbean. 

During  his  regime  the  cultivation  of  coffee 
reached  unusual  proportions,  while  fortunes  were 
made  and  retained  by  its  growth  and  export;  the 
principal  railways  were  chartered,  subsidized  and 
built  by  government  encouragement;  the  popula- 
tion increased  in  a normal  ratio;  foreigners  began 
to  come  and  to  make  money,  thinking  that  Ven- 
ezuela had  reached  the  condition  of  stable, 
material  civilization.  Industrial  activity  was  mani- 
fested, the  streets  of  Caracas  were  thronged  by 
visitors,  rancheros  and  natives,  all  with  their  pock- 
ets full  of  money,  and  the  shops  displayed  Eu- 
ropean art-treasures  and  costly  fabrics  with  which 
to  decorate  the  homes  or  the  persons  of  the  tasteful 
Venezolanos.  Shipping  made  rapid  progress,  as 
the  harbor  pier  at  La  Guayra  was  now  finished  and 


258 


VENEZUELA 


others  at  Puerto  Cabello,  Maracaibo  and  Guanta 
contemplated.  Trade  with  Europe  was  stimulated; 
there  seemed  no  limit,  in  spite  of  trickery  and  cor- 
ruption, to  the  prosperity  already  acquired  and 
promising  to  come.  Blanco  did  much  to  beautify 
the  city  of  Caracas,  which  is  to-day  a lasting  me- 
morial to  his  taste  and  patriotism;  the  parks  and 
gardens  are  largely  of  his  design,  he  helped  to 
erect  good  buildings,  and  his  ambition  was  to  make 
this  capital  city  rank  with  those  of  other  nations  of 
South  America. 

But  alas ! prosperity  was  the  rock  upon  which  the 
politicians  split.  They  accused  Blanco  of  extrava- 
gance, of  creating  too  great  a sinking  fund,  of  look- 
ing after  his  friends,  in  fact  of  all  the  crimes  they 
would  call  virtues  if  committed  by  themselves.  In 
1889  he  was  driven  from  power,  mobbed,  his  statue 
was  overthrown,  the  people  were  hocus-pocused 
into  the  notion  that  nothing  but  a revolution  could 
coin  their  labor  into  ready  cash,  and  therefore  un- 
rest and  bankruptcy  came  again.  For  almost  three 
years  the  “Little  Venezuelans”  had  their  way,  toss- 
ing the  president’s  cap  from  one  head  to  another, 
till  in  1892  General  Crespo  snatched  the  power 
with  dictatorial  acumen.  He,  like  Blanco,  was  a 
good  man  for  the  place,  not  exactly  a Washington, 
but  a statesman  of  practical  common  sense  if  noth- 
ing else,  and  he  knew  how  to  direct  their  turbulent 
energies  into  ways  productive  of  something  besides 
chauvinistic  revolutions.  During  his  term  of  of- 


BOUNDARY  DISPUTE 


259 


fice  the  famous  dispute  arose  with  England  over  its 
Guiana  boundary,  which  led  to  the  still  more 
famous  Cleveland-Olney  “ultimatum”  and  an 
outbreak  of  affection  for  the  United  States  which 
became  almost  a religious  festival  in  Caracas. 
Crespo,  even  if  insincere  in  his  motive — and  I do 
not  believe  that  he  had  any  ulterior  purpose — ac- 
complished the  result  of  intensifying  national  feel- 
ing and  demonstrating  that  the  country  had 
enemies  in  Europe  and  friends  nearer  home.  But 
Crespo  did  not  last  long  enough  to  prove  what  he 
could  do;  he  was  killed  in  1899.  Andrade,  presi- 
dent from  March  1,  1898,  to  October  20,  1899, sank 
after  a revolution  into  the  cesspool  of  Curasao  and 
the  oblivion  of  Puerto  Rico.  He  was  succeeded  by 
the  man  who  to-day  seems  to  be  the  only  one  ca- 
pable of  subduing,  I can  not  say  harmonizing,  the 
discordant  factions,  and  of  using  both  sword  and 
pen  as  occasion  may  require  in  teaching  the  pov- 
erty-stricken nation  that  even  inglorious  peace  costs 
less  and  pays  more  than  theoretic  liberty  and  medi- 
eval war. 

Cipriano  Castro  is  an  Andino,  that  is,  a native 
of  the  Andine  sierras.  He  is  of  good  family,  uncul- 
tured, as  Venezuelan  education  goes,  a self-made 
man  but  by  no  means  ignorant  or  boorish.  His 
wife,  of  fine  instincts  and  breeding,  is  from  the  ru- 
ral aristocracy.  The  short  revolution,  by  which  he 
expelled  Andrade,  carried  him  rapidly  into  power 
as  dictator,  euphemistically  called  supreme  chief 


260 


VENEZUELA 


of  the  nation;  then  provisional  president,  liberator, 
restorer  and  finally  constitutional  president.  He 
has  entirely  remade  the  government,  and  he  con- 
trols, partly  by  intimidation,  partly  by  common 
sense,  partly  through  the  exhaustion  of  the  country 
which  is  willing  to  yield  a great  deal  for  the  sake 
of  peace,  and  partly  by  the  constitution.  This  sa- 
cred document  has  been  revised  under  his  influence, 
and  now  has  elements  distinguishing  it  noticeably 
from  the  original  of  1830.  Castro  has  made  use  of 
the  nationalism  nourished  by  Crespo,  and  by  sev- 
eral lucky  strokes  has  turned  the  country’s  internal 
dissatisfaction  into  resentment  against  schemes  of 
exploitation  from  abroad.  The  people  can  not  be 
blamed  for  this  feeling  of  growing  nationalism; 
for  years  they  have  been  the  prey  of  politicians  at 
home  and  of  money-makers  from  everywhere;  they 
have  been  sold  for  ha’pence  and  had  to  pay  in  sov- 
ereigns. The  English  are  not  always  guilty,  nor 
the  Germans,  although  these  nations  have  not  acted 
with  the  uprightness  they  have  been  obliged  to  as- 
sume in  Argentina  and  Brazil.  Nor  has  the  United 
States,  in  matters  of  business,  entirely  preserved  a 
name  for  fair  dealing.  France  has  openly  befouled 
herself  in  much  the  same  way  as  she  did  in  the  old 
Panama  Canal. 

The  excuse  was  the  apparent  strength  of  the 
Matos  rebellion,  but  the  French  cable-company 
was  well  content  to  gain  should  Matos  win,  and  for- 
got that  its  violation  of  its  charter  might  be  discov- 


ITS  ISOLATION 


261 

ered  if  Matos  lost.  Matos  did  lose,  and  Castro 
attacked  the  cable-company,  as  the  United  States 
is  attacking  the  disobedient  Standard  Oil  and  other 
trusts,  in  our  own  country.  The  French  govern- 
ment upheld  the  cable-company,  and  the  people  of 
Venezuela  nearly  mobbed  the  resident  French  and 
their  consul. 

Venezuelans  say  that  if  Europe  can  forget  honor 
and  obligations,  why  can  not  a weak  nation,  with 
an  honor  already  tarnished  by  the  misdemeanors  of 
her  earlier  politicians,  occasionally  fight  back  by 
the  same  weapons  of  trickery  and  guile.  Castro  has 
built  up  a machine,  the  essence  of  which  is  freedom 
from  the  foreigner — that  is,  a determination  to 
have  some  of  the  profits  of  Venezuelan  investments 
shared  by  the  country,  and  to  make  the  financiers 
of  other  countries  accountable  to  Venezuela  and 
her  laws.  The  present  tendency  might  lead  to  an 
isolation  as  bad  as  that  of  Francia  in  Paraguay 
sixty  years  ago,  but  Venezuela  is  not  shut  off  from 
communication  as  is  Paraguay,  and  this  is  the 
twentieth  century  of  steam  and  electricity,  and  of  a 
liberty  that  is  material  and  industrial,  not  theoretic. 

This  fact  Castro  is  slowly  beginning  to  find  out. 
After  all,  he  is  a modern  man,  not  a reactionary; 
his  patriotism  may  be  grotesque,  but  it  is  not  in- 
sincere ; his  economic  policy  may  be  ridiculous,  but 
it  is  not  unprecedented.  Through  his  ministers  he 
watches  closely  the  rest  of  the  world  and  he  thinks 
he  merely  follows  good  example.  When  he  hears 


262 


VENEZUELA 


of  tariffs,  trusts  and  high  finance  he  decides  that 
what  methods  are  good  for  big  countries  are  also 
good  for  little  ones;  if  he  looks  after  his  friends  he 
knows  of  others  who  are  doing  likewise;  but  he  is 
learning.  Castro  is  eager  for  work  and  for  know- 
ledge; if  he  is  allowed  to  govern  the  country,  the 
land  can  not  fail  to  become  prosperous.  Peace  is  all 
they  need;  any  peaceful  government,  however  bad, 
is  better  than  revolution. 

Castro  may  not  be  the  most  enlightened  states- 
man Europe  or  the  United  States  might  select,  and 
from  our  point  of  view  he  may  not  be  the  best  presi- 
dent; but  he  is  the  only  kind  of  president  capable 
of  leading  Venezuela  into  the  place  she  is  worthy 
of  occupying  among  South  American  nations. 
Castro,  when  he  recovers  from  the  intoxication  of 
power,  will  grow  more  liberal,  and  the  country 
will  learn  meanwhile  the  peaceful  art  of  industri- 
alism; but  if  he  is  cast  out  either  by  discontent  at 
home  or  machinations  abroad,  and  if  another  revo- 
lution comes  to  destroy  the  little  faith  and  peace 
still  left,  God  help  Venezuela! 


CHAPTER  SEVENTEEN 


VENEZUELA 

THE  GOVERNMENT 

The  ninth  and  present  (1904)  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  of  Venezuela  differs  radically 
in  some  details  from  that  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  and  does  not  preserve  the  early  zeal  of 
the  constitution  of  1830.  Its  scheme  is  for  greater 
centralization  of  national  government  than  we 
have  considered  advisable  and  for  less  autonomy 
on  the  part  of  individual  states.  The  state  must 
relinquish  to  the  nation  certain  functions,  like  edu- 
cation and  taxation,  which  we  think  should  belong 
to  local  authority.  A stern  distinction  is  made  be- 
tween Venezuelans  and  foreigners;  though  for- 
eigners have  equal  legal  status,  they  are  deprived 
of  some  privileges  which  with  us  belong  by  rights 
to  the  man  and  not  alone  to  the  citizen.  The  for- 
eigner is  repeatedly  mentioned  and  his  restrictions 
defined. 

The  president  is  chosen  by  an  electoral  body  con- 
sisting of  fourteen  members  of  the  National  Con- 
gress, either  from  among  themselves  or  elsewhere; 

263 


264 


VENEZUELA 


at  the  same  time  a first  and  second  vice-president 
are  chosen.  This  president  is  administrative  officer 
of  the  federal  district  (Caracas,  etc.)  and  of  the 
territories ; he  may  temporarily  withdraw  from 
both  residence  and  authority,  in  which  case  he  dele- 
gates his  office  to  a vice-president.  The  president 
is  ineligible  for  an  immediate  second  term,  but 
when  once  elected  holds  office  for  six  years.  His 
powers  are  more  personal  and  extensive  than  is 
usual  in  constitutional  bodies;  he  may  expel  for- 
eigners, intervene  by  arms  in  state  quarrels,  and 
may  prohibit  ingress  of  foreigners  devoted  espe- 
cially to  the  service  of  any  religion.  He  also  super- 
intends the  collection  of  the  national  revenue. 

There  are  a Senate  and  a Chamber  of  Deputies. 
A senator  is  chosen  by  the  state  legislature  from 
outside  its  own  body;  he  must  be  a native  at  least 
thirty  years  old,  and  holds  office  for  six  years. 
There  are  two  from  each  state.  Deputies  are  sent 
to  Congress  by  direct  vote,  40,000  being  the  repre- 
sentative unit.  At  present  there  are  fifty-two.  They 
must  be  native  born.  These  legislative  bodies,  Sen- 
ate and  House,  meet  only  at  biennial  periods  for  a 
limited  session  of  ninety  days,  but  the  president 
may  call  an  extra  session.  They  pass  laws  and  any 
law  may  originate  in  either  house;  they  elect  by 
secret  ballot  the  seven  members  of  the  Supreme 
Court  who  hold  office,  not  for  life,  but  for  re- 
elective periods  of  six  years;  they  must  be  native 
born. 


House  of  Congress,  Caracas 


Harbor  at  La  Guayra 


American  Eagle  at  Puerto  Cabello 


THE  CABINET 


265 


The  Cabinet,  directly  appointed  by  and  de- 
pendent on  the  president,  consists  of  the  Governor 
of  the  Federal  District  and  seven  members  called 
Ministers:  of  Internal  Relations,  of  Foreign  Af- 
fairs, of  Finance  and  Public  Credit,  of  Business 
and  Promotion,  of  War  and  Navy,  of  Public 
Works,  of  Public  Instruction.  Cabinet  ministers 
must  be  native  born. 

The  general  clauses  of  the  constitution  explain 
the  relation  of  the  states  to  the  nation,  retaining 
for  the  latter  the  control  of  the  army  and  navy,  of 
public  instruction,  tax  collection  and  ecclesiastical 
patronage.  One  important  clause  demands  that  all 
questions  of  dispute  between  foreigners,  or  between 
a foreigner  and  a native,  must  be  submitted  to  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  that  all  corporations  must  be 
domiciled  within  the  country — that  is,  must  have  a 
Venezuelan  charter.  The  death  penalty  is  abol- 
ished (since  1849).  Public  buildings  of  all  kinds 
throughout  the  country  are  controlled  by  the 
nation.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  the  state 
religion  and  the  government  contributes  to  its  sup- 
port. Freedom  of  the  press  is  guaranteed  (but  not 
encouraged).  There  are  other  clauses  differing 
from  anything  we  have,  but  they  do  not  modify 
the  essential  differences  of  centralization  of  power 
and  the  restriction  of  the  activity  of  foreigners. 

The  republic  is  divided  into  thirteen  states,  five 
territories  and  the  federal  district.  This  last  is 
composed  of  several  outlying  strips,  like  the  Island 


266 


VENEZUELA 


of  Margarita,  besides  the  rather  large  area  adja- 
cent to  the  national  capital  at  Caracas.  Each  state 
has  a president  (governor)  appointed  by  the  na- 
tional executive,  and  the  nation  pays  out  of  the  na- 
tional taxes  a proper  sum  into  the  state  treasury  for 
its  support,  if  needed;  whereas  with  us  the  state 
pays  into  the  national  treasury  and  collects  its  own 
taxes.  Locally  the  state  manages  its  own  affairs. 

Nowadays  one’s  first  critical  glance  is  apt  to  be 
toward  the  strong  arm  of  a government,  the  army 
and  navy.  The  Venezuelan  army  is  not  a fighting 
machine.  Recruits  from  the  states  are  raw  field- 
lads  or  hardy  but  untrained  Andinos,  who  never 
knew  any  discipline  but  the  obedience  to  a personal 
head  and  desire  to  follow  his  leadership.  I have 
seen  them  in  ragged  trousers  of  varying  colors, 
shoeless  or  with  native  alpargatas,  discarded 
French  caps  and  single-fire  muskets;  but  they  are 
brave  and  willing  to  fight.  One  who  witnessed 
them  seven  years  ago  when  Castro  came  into  power 
might  have  laughed  at  their  crudeness  and  sim- 
plicity, but  one  would  have  respected  their  thor- 
ough bravery.  To-day  Castro  is  drilling  them  in 
modern  tactics;  he  has  European  officers  imported 
for  the  business,  and  hour  after  hour  those  sta- 
tioned in  Caracas  go  through  the  endless  drill  on 
the  broad  roads  in  Paraiso,  being  coached  into 
some  semblance  of  a civilized  nation’s  army.  There 
is  no  great  need  for  improvement  if  they  are  to 
fight  over  again  the  ridiculous  but  often  bloody 


ARMY  AND  NAVY 


267 


battles  of  their  traditional  revolutions;  they  will 
fight  and  shoot  and  kill  without  further  training 
if  they  are  fired  by  personal  loyalty  to  a leader. 

There  is,  however,  a novel  feature  in  Venezue- 
la’s later  policy  which  involves  international  more 
than  local  conditions;  the  people  are  aroused  and 
desire  that  their  army  should  make  a good  show. 
Castro’s  ambition  is  to  have  a good  army  to  exhibit 
in  time  of  peace  and  to  repel  foreigners  in  time  of 
invasion.  They  could  not  stand  against  English  or 
German  or  Yankee  regulars — nobody  but  the  un- 
traveled patriot  dreams  that;  but  they  could  scatter 
to  the  hills  and,  with  guerilla  tactics,  ceaselessly 
nag  an  enemy  bold  enough  to  occupy  their  beloved 
soil.  They  have  fighting  blood  in  them  and  are 
brave.  Time  only  can  tell  whether  the  lack  of  dis- 
cipline, which  for  generations  has  been  disguised 
under  the  name  of  liberty,  can  be  overcome.  The 
officers  are  all  generals,  and  there  is  a pretty  little 
military  college  in  Caracas  where  cadets  are  edu- 
cated. The  army  is  supposed  to  be  about  10,000 
strong,  but  varies  according  to  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  moment. 

The  navy  is  a little  squadron  of  seven  vessels, 
called  by  courtesy  men-o’-war.  They  equal  in  ca- 
pacity torpedo  boats  or  submarines.  Against  a real 
cruiser  they  would  stand  the  same  show  as  a pleas- 
ure yacht;  in  reality  some  of  them  are  yachts  sold 
to  the  confiding  Venezuelans  for  two  prices  by 
clever  Americans  who  thus  discarded  second-hand 


268 


VENEZUELA 


goods.  The  navy  looks  well  on  the  water  and  is 
admirably  equipped — on  paper.  Venezuelans  are 
not  sailors;  even  less  are  they  engineers,  machinists 
or  navigators.  Their  whole  life  and  passion  is  for 
their  valleys  and  mountains;  they  can  not  learn  the 
mysteries  of  boilers  or  the  donkey  engine.  But  they 
are  all  very  polite  and  would  probably  salute  an 
enemy  before  firing  at  him,  if  they  found  out  how 
to  discharge  a gun.  They  love  the  uniform  and 
the  ring  of  the  word  of  command,  but  their  navy 
never  will  be  respected  nor  can  it  protect  their 
harbors.  Its  only  purpose  will  be  to  demonstrate 
that  all  the  rudiments  of  a nation  are  there. 

It  is  otherwise  with  the  less  martial  Post-office 
and  telegraph  service,  belonging  to  the  Fomento 
Department.  As  in  other  countries,  these  are  gov- 
ernment institutions  and,  as  far  as  my  experience 
goes,  both  are  commendably  maintained.  The  Post- 
office  is  well  equipped,  managed  with  careful  re- 
gard to  safety  and  routine,  and  enters  into  districts 
far  beyond  the  railway;  under  the  stimulus  of  the 
present  energetic  administration  many  places  are 
accessible  which  hitherto  seemed  out  of  reach,  and 
lines  are  projected  to  benefit  even  the  uncivilized 
Indian.  The  chief  complaint  against  the  service  is 
that  it  does  not  meet  the  demand  for  haste.  For 
example,  the  steamer  to  the  United  States  leaves 
La  Guayra  on  a Monday  after  the  arrival  of  the 
train  from  Caracas,  but  the  postmaster  at  the  capi- 
tal will  not  forward  mail  by  the  last  train;  he  re- 


INSTITUTIONS 


269 


quires  that  this  steamer’s  mail  be  made  up  not  later 
than  Saturday  night.  The  result  is  a loss  of  thirty- 
six  hours,  and  often  the  inability  to  post  answers  to 
letters  received  by  a Saturday’s  steamer,  unless  re- 
sort is  had  to  the  courtesy  of  the  legations  who  have 
the  privilege  of  forwarding  their  special  mail  by 
the  Monday’s  train. 

The  telegraph  is  effective;  it  extends  over  4,000 
miles  of  national  circuit  through  all  the  business 
centers,  and  reaches  well  into  the  interior.  The 
railways  are  allowed  independent  lines  of  their 
own.  By  an  arrangement  with  the  French  cable- 
company,  local  cable-routes  are  maintained  by 
which  the  city  of  Bolivar  on  the  Orinoco  is  touched. 
Through  this  concession  arose  one  of  the  interna- 
tional disputes  which  led  to  a quarrel  with  the 
French  Government  and  brought  to  the  surface  the 
growing  hatred  toward  foreigners  and  their  selfish 
exploitation  of  the  Venezuelans.  The  French 
cable-company  expressly  agreed  to  certain  clauses 
of  construction,  repair  and  maintenance — and  vio- 
lated them ; it  agreed  to  submit  to  the  laws  and 
courts  of  the  country — and  repudiated  these  rul- 
ings; it  illicitly  dabbled  in  politics  during  the 
Matos  rebellion — and  nearly  cost  the  de  facto  gov- 
ernment its  life.  The  only  justification  the  cable- 
company  offered  was  a vicious  plea  that  Matos 
promised  to  become  the  real  president. 

Venezuela  is  now  and  always  has  been  on  a gold 
basis  and  foreign  gold  has  a fixed  legal  value,  al- 


2 yo 


VENEZUELA 


though  fluctuations  take  place  in  the  commercial 
price  of  gold;  but  no  gold  coin  is  to  be  seen  in  the 
country.  Very  little  has  been  coined  and  it  is  too 
precious  for  daily  use.  Silver  is  the  prevailing  me- 
dium of  exchange  and  the  silver  currency  is  unusu- 
ally good,  comparing  in  fineness  and  brightness 
with  dollars,  quarters  and  dimes.  A slight  pre- 
mium is  given  to  foreign  face  drafts,  but  the  par 
equivalent  is  well  maintained.  Paper  notes  are  cir- 
culated, but  the  people  do  not  like  them  and  there 
is  some  risk,  away  from  Caracas,  that  they  may 
have  to  be  discounted.  The  government  itself  does 
not  issue  paper.  This  high  standard  of  exchange 
is  largely  commercial.  The  government  is  not 
financier  enough  to  keep  its  bonds  afloat,  and 
repeated  revolutions,  international  experiences 
with  repudiations,  delayed  payments  of  interest 
and  subsidy  obligations,  have  given  Venezuela  a 
very  bad  name  in  the  financial  world.  There  are 
no  foreign  banks  in  Venezuela,  and  the  govern- 
ment is  attempting  to  establish  a national  bank  to 
conduct  all  official  business. 

The  nation  has  derived  much  of  its  revenue 
from  import  dues,  from  stamp  taxes  on  documents, 
from  licenses,  and  from  salt  or  other  mines  and 
monopolies.  Of  late,  besides  the  tariff  for  revenue, 
which  is  the  chief  source  of  income  in  most  Latin 
American  countries,  Venezuela  has  committed 
herself  to  the  protective  policy  and  the  fostering  of 
infant  industries.  She  needs  factories  badly,  but 


THE  RAILWAYS 


271 

the  inevitable  tendency,  especially  noticeable  in 
this  unstable  country,  is  to  encourage  monopolies. 
This  is  not  only  because  capital  alone  can  begin 
a manufacture,  but  also  because  political  interests 
and  capital  naturally  hang  together  and  thus  mo- 
nopolies become  firmly  established.  The  govern- 
ment thinks  it  not  beneath  its  dignity  to  squeeze 
some  companies  to  starvation  and  to  give  to  others 
privileges  which  permit  them  to  acquire  all  the 
trade  in  a particular  commodity.  It  is  comfortable 
for  the  fortunate  stock-holders  but  disastrous  for 
those  not  so  fortunate.  The  foreign  outsider  gets 
angry  unless  he  has  wit  enough  to  see  that  this 
short-sighted  fiscal  policy  is  only  tit  for  tat,  since 
the  government  is  now  doing  for  its  friends  just  as 
it  has  for  years  been  done  by;  it  is  retaliating  upon 
the  foreigner  who  thought  he  had  found  in  Ven- 
ezuela a happy  ground  for  international  exploita- 
tion. Not  one  sin  of  finance  does  Venezuela 
commit,  which  can  not  be  counterbalanced  by 
abuses  committed  by  foreign  companies  against 
her. 

From  this  accusation  the  railways  must  be  ex- 
cepted. The  enlightened  ambition  of  Guzman 
Blanco  recognized  in  the  railway  a great  civiliz- 
ing influence;  yet  the  railways  in  Venezuela  have 
not  been  permitted  to  perform  for  the  country 
what  they  are  capable  of  doing,  if  the  policy  of 
expansion  were  encouraged  instead  of  hampered 
by  fiscal  interference.  It  is  lamentable  that  the 


272 


VENEZUELA 


government  seems  to  be  unwilling  to  grant  to  the 
railways  power  to  increase  their  business  and  to 
extend  their  influence,  by  immigration  and  com- 
merce, into  untapped  areas.  Once  let  the  railways 
open  new  territories  to  settlers,  and  let  the  govern- 
ment protect  them  so  that  the  agriculturist,  the 
grower,  the  producer,  the  settler,  will  be  assured 
that  his  crops  are  his  own  and  that  the  markets  of 
the  world  are  open  to  him,  and  Venezuela  would 
astonish  the  world.  In  no  other  tropical  country 
is  living  so  healthful  and  pleasant.  The  harvests 
are  abundant  and  sure,  and  markets  are  easily  and 
cheaply  reached.  The  opening  up  of  Venezuela 
is  a matter  of  education.  It  may  come  slowly,  but 
it  must  inevitably  come,  if  not  by  enlightenment 
from  within,  then  by  benevolent  compulsion  from 
without.  The  country  is  rich  and  the  natural  de- 
mand is  that  it  shall  be  occupied. 

The  Venezuelan  idea  of  education  is  theoretic 
and  poetic,  not  practical  and  industrial;  if  my  ob- 
servation can  be  trusted,  the  people  of  Venezuela 
are  better  educated  in  books  and  have  better  school 
opportunities  than  in  any  country  of  South  Amer- 
ica, with  the  probable  exception  of  Uruguay.  Edu- 
cation is  a function  of  the  nation;  the  government 
supervises  schools  and  universities,  and  is  earnestly 
engaged  in  extending  the  knowledge  of  the  three 
R’s.  Statistics  give  an  illiteracy  of  from  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  in  Caracas  to  eighty  per  cent,  in  the 
southern  interior,  yet  it  is  hard  to  find  along  the 


Market  Place — Caracas 


A Tavern  in  Venezuela 


EDUCATION 


273 


highways  of  travel  a village  without  its  school  and 
its  children  able  to  read  and  write.  They  are  eager 
for  knowledge  and  easily  absorb  it,  but  beyond  the 
rudiments  they  do  not  receive  what  they  should. 
The  danger  in  book  learning  alone,  which  Diaz  in 
Mexico  long  ago  discovered,  is  very  evident  here; 
it  leads  to  discontent  and  renewed  revolt.  The 
government’s  plan  to  introduce  manual  training 
must  be  something  more  than  a paper  project,  for 
only  thus  can  the  children  of  the  land  be  redeemed. 

The  regulation  of  the  schools  should  be  taken 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
Once  let  primary  education  become  unsectarian, 
without  losing  its  religion,  and  let  tools  with  the 
value  of  work  be  the  culture  of  the  nation,  and  the 
Venezuelan  child,  bright,  sympathetic  and  ambi- 
tious as  he  is,  will  no  longer  remain  a peon  drudge 
or  an  unproductive  plaything  of  wordy  generals 
and  liberators. 

This  blindness  to  the  country’s  need  is  the  blot 
upon  the  governing  aristocracy.  They  are  cultured 
beyond  our  “best  people,”  serious  and  patriotic, 
but  they  will  not  act.  Another  Vargas  or  a Sarmi- 
ento  must  come.  All  their  time,  all  their  impulses, 
are  given  to  the  game  of  politics.  The  youth  may 
go  abroad  for  higher  education  because  he  can  not 
find  it  at  home;  but  what  he  brings  back  is  seldom 
an  industrial  ambition,  such  as  one  finds  in  Brazil 
and  Argentina;  he  returns  a politician.  Here,  too, 
the  subtly  provoked  hostility  to  the  foreigner  is 


274 


VENEZUELA 


manifest;  there  is  no  foreign  school  in  Caracas, 
and  I question  whether  one  could  be  made  to  pay. 
The  university  is  well  organized  and  turns  out  law- 
yers and  doctors  and  scholars,  but  engineers  and 
scientists  are  scarce. 

The  latest  catalogue  from  the  university  hardly 
mentioned  what  we  call  science ; but  as  it  was  more 
than  a year  old  and  gave  no  promise  of  an  edition 
oftener  than  every  three  years,  one  can  easily  guess 
how  unimportant  the  scientific  faculty  is  consid- 
ered. 

Yet  it  is  a mistake  to  assert  that  the  Venezolano 
has  no  mind  for  science  and  industry.  The  publi- 
cations of  the  statistical  bureau,  organized  and  in- 
spired by  the  genius  of  Castro,  is  a commendable 
performance,  and  shows  what  can  be  done  with 
proper  direction.  It  is  the  aristocracy,  not  the  peo- 
ple, who  are  to  blame;  it  is  the  aristocracy  who 
plot  to  retain  the  prestige  of  the  Castilian  chivalry 
and  that  corollary  to  a decrepit  and  exhausted  state 
of  society — office-holding  and  graft.  Any  one  who 
knows  old  Spain  knows  by  analogy  Venezuela. 
The  brilliant  altruism  of  theoretic  government, 
coupled  with  a debauched  selfishness  when  in 
power,  is  here  as  well  as  there.  Only  a firm  and 
persistent  demand  from  more  advanced  nations 
who  have  her  true  interests  at  heart  can  overcome 
the  racial  traits  and  the  fear  of  the  foreigner.  Only 
the  strong  arm  of  such  a dictator  as  Castro,  a man 
who,  with  all  his  faults  and  vices,  his  unstatesman- 


DANGERS 


275 


ship  and  narrowness  of  views,  is  still  a sincere  pa- 
triot, carrying  the  germ  of  higher  things,  can  bring 
the  nation  out  of  its  paralysis.  If  outside  nations 
offend  him,  as  they  frequently  have  done,  he  may 
at  first  cast  us  out  only  to  seek  our  aid  in  the  end; 
but  if  he  falls  because  some  other  dictator  misleads 
the  credulous  people  by  promises  of  improvident 
rewards,  the  nation  will  be  overwhelmed.  It  can 
not  continue  much  longer  in  its  inherited  disregard 
for  law,  order  and  uprightness  that  make  other 
countries  great.  It  will  crumble  into  ruins,  and  a 
scramble  for  possession,  which  we  can  not  prevent, 
will  mark  the  next  epoch  in  its  history. 


CHAPTER  EIGHTEEN 


VENEZUELA 

THE  PEOPLE  AND  PRESENT  CONDITIONS 

Venezuela  is  old  Spain,  the  Spain  of  Washing- 
ton Irving  eighty  years  ago.  She  has  as  much 
beauty,  her  people  have  the  same  Andalusian 
charm,  and  she  can  show  as  much  romance  and 
intricate  diplomacy,  or  as  many  primitive  inns  as 
existed  beyond  the  Pyrenees  before  guide-books 
were  bound  in  red. 

Venezuela  resembles  Mexico  and  the  Andean 
republics  of  South  America,  differing  from  her 
Atlantic  sisters  in  that  she  still  retains  as  a work- 
ing-class a large  remnant  of  the  aboriginal  popu- 
lation which  the  earliest  Spaniards  discovered 
when  they  landed.  The  Indians  were  not  agricul- 
tural, although  they  had  all  facilities  for  becoming 
so;  and  they  left  no  trace  of  having  been  stirred 
into  barbarism  or  a crude  civilization,  as  were  the 
Mexicans  and  the  Peruvians.  These  Caribs,  if  they 
were  nothing  else,  were  fighters,  and  delayed  the 
European  attempts  at  benevolent  assimilation. 
They  must  have  been  numerous.  They  were  found 

276 


THE  PEOPLE 


2 77 


everywhere,  and  even  now  there  are  60,000  un- 
mixed independent  Indians  and  240,000  who  have 
adopted  some  semblance  of  village  life — more  than 
remain  in  Argentina  and  probably  nearly  as  many 
as  Brazil  contains.  Upon  this  primitive  stock,  un- 
civilizable  by  any  means  within  themselves,  the 
Spanish  left  their  stamp.  What  they  did  not  kill 
they  enslaved.  Las  Casas,  the  defender  of  the  In- 
dians, one  of  the  founders  of  Cumana,  was  the 
instigator  of  the  importation  of  Africans  into  Ven- 
ezuela and  the  West  Indies;  blacks  and  Indians 
became  mixed,  and  there  was  soon  a subject-race 
working  in  the  mines,  in  the  fields  and  in  the  towns. 

But  Spanish  is  the  dominant  stock  which  has 
produced  the  native  of  Venezuela;  he  has  little 
blood  from  elsewhere;  neither  Italians  nor  Portu- 
guese have  come  in  sufficient  numbers  to  exert  an 
influence.  Germans,  when  they  entered  Venezuela, 
came  singly  and  were  absorbed  by  marriage,  or  as 
feeble  colonists  were  lost  among  themselves.  The 
English,  except  as  adventurers  or  bucaneers,  never 
hankered  after  Venezuela  as  they  did  for  Uru- 
guay and  Argentina  and  parts  of  Brazil,  nor  did 
the  French  attempt  any  conquest  or  settlement 
beyond  their  tiny  islands  of  Martinique  and  Gua- 
deloupe. The  ingredients  are  altogether  Spanish, 
Indian  and  African.  This  rather  pure  Castilian 
stock  spread  farther  and  farther  westward,  avoid- 
ing the  coast  (contrary  to  the  Brazilian  habit), 
settling  deeper  inland  as  far  south  as  Merida 


VENEZUELA 


278 

(1558),  always  seeking  gold,  but  absorbing  a cer- 
tain content  from  the  beauties  of  the  mountains, 
and  deriving  profits  from  agriculture  and  pastur- 
age when  they  could  not  discover  precious  metals. 
They  differ  from  the  Mexicans,  who  found  riches 
at  hand.  The  Venezuelans  had  to  be  modest  in 
their  foundations;  the  luxurious  cathedrals  of  the 
City  of  Mexico  and  Tula  are  not  duplicated,  nor 
could  they  populate  towns  of  the  greatness  of  Zaca- 
tecas and  Guanajuato;  El  Dorado  eluded  them,  so 
they  had  to  remain  agriculturists.  When  coffee 
was  introduced  in  1784  they  were  ready  for  coun- 
try life,  and  since  then  they  have  become  recon- 
ciled, rugged  and  free.  Not  having  been  so 
beloved  by  Spain  as  the  gold-bearing  colonies  of 
Mexico  and  Peru,  they  had  less  intercourse  with 
the  world  in  general,  and  their  Spanish  traits  re- 
main quite  untarnished.  “Quien  dice  Espaha  dice 
todo”  (“Spain  is  the  whole  thing!”).  “Venezuela 
first  and  last”  is  the  key  to  their  character. 

Democracy  is  the  breath  of  their  nostrils,  not  so 
much  in  politics  as  in  conduct,  for  your  Venezue- 
lan is  your  true  democrat.  The  traveler  needs  only 
to  read  Ford’s  Gatherings  from  Spain  and  our  own 
John  Hay’s  Castilian  Days  to  catch  the  spirit  of 
the  transplanted  Iberianism  in  the  New  World. 
The  alms-seeker  is  not  a beggar  here;  he  is  merely 
the  object  upon  whom  you  bestow  your  good  will 
and  who  gives  you  his  blessing,  and  he  loses  none 
of  his  dignity  by  the  exchange;  he  carries  his  cane 


SPANISH  TRAITS 


279 


with  the  grace  of  an  hidalgo  and  has  as  much  right 
to  the  sunshine  and  fresh  air  as  the  owner  of  cattle 
on  a thousand  hills.  Poverty  makes  no  caste  dis- 
tinction; if  the  poor  man  can  not  offer  you  a 
banquet  with  red  wine,  he  is  quite  as  cordially 
hospitable  with  his  simple  beans,  his  banana  and 
his  cup  of  coffee;  he  will  take  a light  from  your 
cigarette  or  give  you  one  from  his,  with  no  thought 
but  that  you  are  both  on  the  same  highway,  though 
one  may  be  afoot,  the  other  on  horseback.  Even  in 
Caracas  there  is  no  tinge  of  servility,  and  the  coach- 
man or  the  flower-seller  instinctively  proffers  and 
expects  an  equality  of  intercourse,  with  no  patron- 
age on  the  one  side  or  humbleness  on  the  other. 
Caracas  is  not  yet  modern,  not  at  all  industrially 
advanced;  the  old  graces,  the  old  ease,  the  old 
charm  of  manners  are  practised  to-day.  This  epito- 
mizes itself  into  courtesy  and  kindliness. 

A distinguished  diplomat,  visiting  Caracas  for 
the  first  time  and  on  an  unpleasant  errand,  once 
exclaimed  in  his  astonishment  at  the  genuine  hos- 
pitality of  his  reception,  “Are  they  all  so  kind;  do 
they  really  mean  it?”  He  had  been  brought  up 
in  the  school  where  there  was  a suspected  ax-to- 
grind  under  all  politeness.  But  in  Venezuela  there 
is  no  undermotive  and  their  kindliness  has  not  crys- 
tallized into  a form  in  which  punctiliousness  is  of 
equal  virtue  with  cordiality.  In  Spain  they  use 
words  of  welcome  which  are  merely  phrases;  in 
Venezuela  these  have  not  lost  their  meaning.  “La 


280 


VENEZUELA 


casa  es  la  suya,  senor”  (This  is  your  house,  sir)  is 
literally  true  for  as  long  as  you  wish. 

The  pride,  the  honor  of  a Castilian,  goes  with 
this  kindliness.  It  is  the  honor  which  John  Hay  so 
ridicules,  which  has  impoverished  Spain,  made  the 
nobility  lazy  and  out  of  pocket  and  unable  to  care 
for  anything  beyond  the  blueness  of  their  blood. 

Another  Spanish  trait,  even  more  evident  here 
than  elsewhere  in  Latin  America,  is  the  love  of 
militarism.  They  take  great  pride  in  titles,  these 
democratic  Venezuelans;  generals  are  thick  in 
Caracas,  or  would  be  if  they  did  not  have  to  flee  to 
exile,  while  judges  and  doctors  are  plentiful.  This 
signifies  that  it  is  easier  to  hold  office,  to  decree  a 
new  constitution  and  to  organize  a revolt,  than  it 
is  to  work  patiently  from  year  to  year,  watching 
crops,  improving  agriculture  and  following  the 
markets.  The  Spaniard  was  born  to  command,  to 
ride  a horse — is  he  not  a caballero? — and  to  build 
— republics;  yet  he  can  not  acquire  the  routine  of 
life  by  which  alone  material  progress  is  accom- 
plished. When  coffee  sold  much  higher  than  it 
does  now  in  Venezuela,  the  country  was  rich  in 
consequence;  when,  shortly  before  and  after  our 
Civil  War,  cotton  and  sugar  were  exported  from 
Venezuela,  money  was  plentiful  and  Caracas  was 
called  Little  Athens.  But  that  was  luck  quite  as 
much  as  industry,  so  when  luck  departed  industry 
died  also.  They  can  talk  of  work,  but  the  Venezu- 
elans do  not  know  how  to  work.  Their  talk,  too, 


SOCIETY 


281 

is  inherited  along  with  their  literature,  and  both 
lead  them  into  that  exuberant  language  which  so 
amuses  and,  I am  sorry  to  say,  disgusts  the  Anglo- 
Saxon.  It  is  only  verbiage;  it  is  chivalry  gone  to 
seed.  Their  culture  is  Spanish,  theoretic,  ideal- 
istic. Nowhere  else,  unless  it  be  in  Bogota,  can 
such  delightful  society  be  found  or  such  poetic 
conversation  be  enjoyed,  as  in  Caracas. 

I went  one  afternoon  to  a tertulia  (five  o’clock 
tea)  in  the  house  of  a modest  family  in  Caracas. 
The  ladies,  young  and  old,  acted  as  hostesses,  and 
served  the  light  refreshments  as  informally  and  as 
daintily  as  would  be  done  in  England.  Some  of 
them  had  been  to  school  in  England,  France  or  the 
United  States,  and  the  conversation  was  indiffer- 
ently carried  on  in  Spanish,  French  or  English. 
After  the  usual  small  talk  about  the  weather,  music 
at  the  opera,  and  the  game  of  base-ball,  which  at 
present  is  the  fashionable  outdoor  amusement  of 
the  young  men  of  Caracas,  we  drifted  unconscious- 
ly into  a comparison  of  national  literatures,  and  I 
was  impressed  by  the  remarkable  familiarity 
shown  by  these  ladies  with  our  poets.  Poe  seemed 
particularly  to  have  touched  the  melancholy  tem- 
perament of  the  Spanish,  but  other  poets  and  nov- 
elists were  mentioned  with  such  freedom  that  I had 
to  confess  my  ignorance  about  some  of  them.  I 
went  away  with  the  feeling  that  in  culture  and 
profound  appreciation  of  many  of  the  deeper  emo- 
tions of  the  human  soul,  an  American  could  learn 


282 


VENEZUELA 


much  from  the  simpler  aristocracy  of  Venezuela. 
The  dress,  the  manners,  the  elegance  of  diction  and 
suavity  of  conduct,  would  be  admired  in  any  cap- 
ital of  Europe;  here  in  America  it  seems  artificial, 
however  charming.  The  family  life,  too,  when  it 
retains  its  old-fashioned  savor,  is  intimate  and 
quite  patriarchal,  though  I fear  that  recently  it  has 
become  tainted  by  fin  de  siec/e  cynicism;  but  in  the 
country  on  the  cafe  fincas  or  large  haciendas  the 
simple  life  can  be  found  in  as  pure  a state  as  in  Old 
or  New  England. 

These  conditions  will  not  at  first  be  noticed  by 
the  stranger,  especially  if  he  does  not  speak  Span- 
ish and  is  unacquainted  with  the  mother  country. 
His  observation  will  be  chiefly  attracted  by  the 
neglected  streets,  the  quiet  life,  the  lack  of  the  hus- 
tle and  noise  by  which  he  usually  gages  a coun- 
try’s activity.  If  he  goes  to  Valencia  or  Cumana 
or  up  on  the  mountain  in  Tachira  to  San  Cristobal, 
his  first  impression  is  one  of  decay,  though  here, 
too,  he  will  find  the  same  manners  and  the  same 
philosophy.  He  can  not  fail,  however,  to  be  struck 
by  the  courtesy  and  kindliness  of  the  people,  high 
and  low.  The  culture  will  pertain  to  the  aristoc- 
racy, the  other  characteristics  are  general,  even  to 
the  lowest  peon. 

As  he  descends  the  social  scale  the  traveler 
notices  more  and  more  negro  blood,  and  the  stu- 
dent will  declare  that  within  recent  years  this  mis- 
cegenation has  increased;  it  is  difficult  to  draw 


THE  NEGRO 


283 


to-day  the  line  between  mestizo,  that  is,  half-Span- 
ish  and  half-Indian,  and  negrito,  in  whose  veins 
there  is  African  blood.  Yet  this  impurity  is  evident 
only  near  the  seaports,  diminishing  farther  inland; 
it  seems  therefore  to  differentiate  these  people  from 
those  in  Spain  who  still  preserve  their  race  unal- 
loyed since  they  mixed  with  the  Moor.  The  Vene- 
zuelan peasant  is  the  democrat,  though  he  have  a 
touch  of  the  conquered  in  him;  and  if  one  word 
describes  him  it  will  be  “docile.”  He  has  been  led 
since  he  was  conquered  and  is  still  subject  to  the 
commands  of  the  aristocracy  and  guided  by  the 
ambitions  of  those  superior  to  him;  he  has  never 
known  another  impulse.  He  is  no  fool;  he  is  no 
more  stolid  than  is  the  Spaniard;  his  wit  may  not 
be  violent,  but  he  can  take  a joke  and  give  one  with 
true  Celtic  enjoyment. 

There  is  an  old  but  good  anecdote  of  a priest, 
recruited  from  the  peasant  class,  who  was  driving 
over  one  of  the  mule-paths  so  pathetically  called  a 
royal  road.  He  himself  had  been  a muleteer  in 
his  youth,  but  his  sacred  office  seemed  to  compel 
him  to  protest  against  the  language  commonly  used 
in  profane  life  to  encourage  the  steps  of  the  lag- 
ging beast.  At  last  he  said  to  the  driver : “Not  so 
much,  my  son,”  referring  rather  to  the  words  than 
to  the  severity  of  the  untiring  whip  in  the  hands  of 
his  guide.  “Let  me  try  my  way,”  he  said,  at  last; 
and  the  driver  gladly  relinquished  his  whip  and 
his  function  to  his  superior,  of  whose  early  expert- 


284 


VENEZUELA 


ness  he  had  often  heard.  But  the  good  Father  for- 
got his  office  as  he  warmed  to  his  work,  and  the  old 
zeal  of  whip  and  tongue  came  back  to  him.  He 
plied  both  with  a vigor  born  of  thorough  training, 
but  his  muleteer,  who  imagined  that  he  had  as- 
sumed sacerdotal  authority  when  he  changed  his 
seat,  in  his  turn  murmured:  “Not  so  much,  Padre 
mio,  not  so  much.”  The  father  saw  the  joke  and 
the  reproof,  but  he  answered  with  a sigh:  “Ah, 
but  it  was  good  while  it  lasted!” 

If  the  peon  could  be  removed  from  the  influence 
of  the  priesthood  and  given  that  true  liberty  for 
which  he  has  always  been  so  ready  to  fight,  there 
would  be  much  hope  for  him;  if  he  were  stirred 
by  a tide  of  migration  which  would  threaten  him 
with  extinction  if  he  did  not  work,  he  would  enjoy 
his  country  as  he  sings  about  it;  for,  contrary  to 
superficial  judgment,  the  Venezuelan  is  not  lazy; 
he  simply  does  not  know  how  to  work.  He  must  be 
impelled  by  some  exterior  force.  The  Jamaica 
negro  is  lazy,  the  southern  black  is  lazy;  most  resi- 
dents of  the  tropics  are  indolent,  but  some  will 
work  of  themselves  if  they  are  only  shown  how. 
The  Venezolano  is  now  as  the  Mexican  was  fifty 
years  ago — inert. 

This  is  applicable  not  only  to  the  lower  peasant 
class,  but  to  the  whole  nation.  There  may  be  cer- 
tain energies  displayed  at  times  and  a mental  or 
even  physical  activity  latent,  but  there  is  no  main- 
spring; the  whole  nation  is  unproductive,  over- 


Statue  of  Bolivar — Valencia 


ORATORY  285 

come  by  the  sterility  of  the  artistic  temperament. 
Their  civilization  is  worn  out. 

I am  making  no  exhaustive  comparison  between 
their  civilization  and  our  own,  or  between  theirs 
and  that  of  Brazil  and  Argentina.  Our  own  has 
defects;  we  might  be  better  off  if  we  lost  the  vices 
of  commercialism  and  replaced  them  by  Latin 
graces,  yet  ours  breathes  of  the  twentieth  century, 
while  their  civilization  is  on  dead  models.  If  no 
substitution  is  possible,  ours  is  still  better  because 
we  produce;  the  habits  of  production  we  insist  on, 
trusting  that  the  faults  will  be  checked;  they  in 
Venezuela  are  sterile;  with  the  richest  land  in  the 
world,  they  import  food-stuffs  to  feed  their  scanty 
wants. 

Over  both  aristocracy  and  peasantry  has  fallen 
the  Moorish-Spanish  mantle  of  fatalism;  since  rev- 
olution and  lawlessness  have  always  been,  they 
assert  that  therefore  they  must  always  be.  The 
non  sequitur  of  the  argument  does  not  strike  them, 
for  out  of  it  grows  a certain  content  which  we  can 
not  understand.  Ambition  is  not  toward  accom- 
plishing more — they  are  satisfied  that  their  country 
has  produced  a Bolivar;  beyond  this  imagination 
can  not  go  except  in  their  oratory.  This  shows 
all  the  bloom  of  Castilian  poetry.  Their  country 
is  great  and  glorious,  their  deeds  immortal,  their 
generals  conquerors  and  heroes,  their  battles  the 
clash  of  Titans;  but  most  of  it  is  mere  oratory, 
however  beautiful  and  classic. 


286 


VENEZUELA 


Their  civilization  is  finer  than  ours,  less  gross, 
less  sordid;  or,  to  use  a word  which  brings  out  the 
feature  of  greatest  importance,  less  material,  there- 
fore unproductive.  It  is  a relic  of  the  time  when 
an  aristocracy  was  real  and  deported  itself  as  such, 
when  culture  belonged  to  the  upper  class  and  labor 
to  the  lower,  when  breeding  and  pedigree  signified 
everything,  and  politics  was  the  sport  of  those  who 
held  the  office  for  the  sake  of  the  money  it  brought 
and  the  power  it  gave.  But  it  is  a civilization  obso- 
lescent if  not  dead.  We  see  the  same  in  Spain  to- 
day, where  it  has  withered  for  fifty  years;  in  Italy, 
where  it  is  giving  place  to  a sturdier  culture  whose 
sign  is  deeds  not  words;  in  our  own  South,  where 
oratory  and  southern  chivalry  were  coexistent.  But 
in  this  South,  as  well  as  in  Mexico,  it  is  receding 
before  the  activity  of  that  civilization  which  mate- 
rially develops  a country  for  the  man  who  works, 
although  it  may  appear  for  a time  to  crush  out  the 
more  delicate  instincts  of  a race  by  the  struggle  to 
give  nourishment  to  both  body  and  brain. 

Venezuela,  strange  to  say,  with  her  nearness  to 
the  eastern  world  and  her  early  start  in  history,  is 
the  last  to  yield  to  the  forces  of  industrialism.  In 
fact,  she  has  not  yet  yielded  and  may  not  yield  for 
years  to  come.  The  ethnographic  rule  of  Hum- 
boldt that  “the  accidents  of  climate  and  configura- 
tion are  felt  in  all  their  force  only  among  a race  of 
men  . . . who  receive  some  exterior  im- 

pulse,” can,  at  the  end  as  well  as  at  the  begin- 


COMPARED  TO  MEXICO  287 


ning  of  her  life,  be  applied  to  Venezuela.  Her 
people  are  of  healthy  stock;  they  are  not  irredeem- 
ably tuberculous,  and,  preserving  the  temperate 
habits  of  the  Latins,  have  escaped  the  dangers  from 
alcohol  which  threatens  to  destroy  the  West  An- 
dean natives.  If  the  Venezuelans  have  one  vice  it 
is  gambling;  but  that,  while  discouraging  thrift, 
never  impoverishes  a race;  they  love  the  excite- 
ment of  the  hazard,  whether  at  the  card-table  of  an 
aristocratic  club,  the  official  lotteries  supported  by 
Church  and  State,  or  the  crap  games  of  the  village 
urchins;  and  they  still  love  the  bull  fight.  In 
Caracas  the  quadrilla  is  as  ceremonious  as  at  Ma- 
drid; but  Mexico  has  not  abandoned  bull  fights, 
and  we  admit  that  her  virtues  have  carried  her 
safely  beyond  medievalism. 

Thus  the  unavoidable  comparison  comes  up 
again.  Mexico,  too,  was  Old  Spain  before  Diaz, 
foreign  capital  and  American  enterprise  changed 
her  from  a land  of  gilded  romance  into  an  enter- 
prising, producing  nation,  recognizing  the  need  of 
material  industrialism.  So  it  must  be  with  Venez- 
uela. Her  agricultural  riches  can  never  be  ex- 
hausted, but  they  must  be  drawn  out  by  foreign 
brains,  northern  money  and  perhaps  by  Teutonic 
energy. 


CHAPTER  NINETEEN 


THE  SOUTH  AMERICAN  SITUATION 

This  is  the  situation.  The  nations  of  Europe 
are  crowded  and  South  America  offers  the  only 
available  land  on  earth  into  which  the  surplus  can 
overflow.  Who  will  occupy  this  virgin  soil — when 
and  how,  by  whom  and  under  what  influences  will 
its  productive  acres  be  used  for  the  sustenance  of 
man? 


A professor  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society 
estimates  that  when  there  are  two  hundred  and 
seven  persons  to  the  square  mile  for  fertile  lands, 
ten  for  the  mountains  and  one  for  the  deserts,  no 
greater  population  can  be  properly  nourished  and 
the  earth  will  then  be  full.  There  will  then  be  six 
thousand  million  persons.  At  present  the  earth 
contains  something  more  than  one-quarter  of  this 
number.  At  the  regular  rate  of  increase  the  earth 
will  be  fully  peopled  about  the  year  2072. 

According  to  statistical  data  collected  by  Mr. 
James  J.  Hill,  the  United  States  within  forty-four 
years  will  have  to  meet  the  wants  of  more  than  two 

288 


THE  USE  OF  LAND 


289 


hundred  million  persons.  He  asks:  “How  are 
these  people  to  be  employed  and  how  supported? 
The  United  States  has  very  little  free  land  left,  so 
that  within  the  next  fifteen  years  every  acre  of  pub- 
lic land  will  disappear.  As  sources  of  wealth,  the 
sea  and  the  forest  can  no  longer  be  taken  into 
calculation;  coal  and  iron  are  measurable  but  nec- 
essarily limited  quantities;  coal  will  be  practically 
a luxury  by  the  middle  of  the  present  century,  and 
the  most  reasonable  computation  of  science  affirms 
that  existing  production  of  iron  can  not  be  main- 
tained for  fifty  years. 

“England’s  coal  and  iron  are  so  low  that  the 
overcrowded  manufacturing  areas  can  not  employ 
all  her  factory-bred  working  class,  although  she 
neglects  her  agricultural  advantages;  migration, 
therefore,  takes  place  because  the  people  instinc- 
tively recognize  that  land  is  the  great  asset  of  a 
nation’s  wealth  and  that  consequently  command  of 
the  soil  means  domination  of  the  earth. 

“We  in  the  United  States  must  look  to  it  that  our 
land  is  put  to  better  service.  Agriculture  must  be 
the  mainstay  of  the  country.  Germany  recognizes 
this  better  than  we;  so  do  Japan,  France  and  Bel- 
gium. Our  affair,  therefore,  is  to  cultivate  the  soil, 
because  foreign  trade  alone  will  not  make  us  rich. 
If  we  do  not  improve  our  own  soil  and  are  not  in 
addition  ready  and  willing  to  invest  money  in  the 
soil  outside  our  territory,  Germany,  Japan  and 
China  will  control  the  markets  of  the  future.” 


290  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


On  the  western  slope  of  the  Andes  are  Chile, 
Peru,  Bolivia,  Ecuador  and  Colombia,  which  may 
be  called  the  mountain  republics;  their  chief  in- 
dustries will  be  those,  such  as  mining,  in  which  is 
demanded  a minimum  of  human  and  maximum  of 
machine  labor;  they  have  untilled  fertile  land,  but 
not  enough  to  draw  great  immigration,  and  it  is  to 
a noticeable  extent  already  occupied  by  native 
races,  who  were  impressed  by  the  stamp  of  the 
Spanish  conqueror,  although  there  is  so  much  ab- 
original blood  that  they  can  by  no  means  be  com- 
pared to  an  Old  World  peasantry.  These  countries 
on  the  Pacific  Ocean  are  isolated  by  the  lofty 
Andes,  by  thousands  of  miles  of  water,  but  they 
will  soon  be  made  more  approachable  to  us  by  the 
completion  of  the  Panama  Canal,  so  that  they  will 
develop  along  American  lines  with  eagerness,  if 
we  treat  them  fairly. 

Argentina,  Uruguay,  Brazil  and  Venezuela 
(Paraguay  lies  between  Argentina  and  Brazil,  has 
no  sea-coast,  and  while  her  rich  acres  are  open  to 
settlement,  politically  she  must  act  as  do  her  neigh- 
bors) are  the  important  republics  of  the  Atlantic 
seaboard,  and  upon  their  conduct,  as  well  as  upon 
our  attitude  toward  them,  does  the  future  of  South 
America  depend. 

The  forces  at  work  will  be  twofold  in  nature — 
governmental  and  commercial.  But  before  these 
are  studied  a preliminary  survey  must  be  taken  if 
their  application  is  to  be  understood. 


CLASS  DISTINCTIONS 


291 


East  Andean  South  America  differs  in  two  essen- 
tials from  the  rest  of  the  hemisphere.  First,  there 
is  practically  no  aboriginal  race  left;  in  Venezuela 
the  Carib  Indian  and  the  Andino  are  disappearing, 
and  the  later  Spaniard,  with  some  Indian  and 
negro  blood,  makes  what  is  to-day  the  meager 
native  laboring  population.  In  Brazil  the  Indian 
has  disappeared  from  all  but  the  wild  interior;  in 
his  place  is  a mixed  race  of  African,  negroid  Latin, 
relatively  pure  Portuguese,  Italian  and  Spanish 
laboring  class,  with  the  washed-out  German  colo- 
nists of  the  southern  states.. 

Venezuela,  Brazil,  Uruguay  and  Argentina 
have  one  social  condition  common  to  them  all, 
which  differentiates  them  radically  from  the 
North  American.  In  addition  to  the  fact  that  they 
all  sprang  from  the  Latin  race,  their  social  struc- 
ture has  two  sharply  distinct  divisions:  an  aristoc- 
racy of  wealth,  or  of  education,  or  of  blood  (usually 
of  all  three),  and  a working-class,  which  as  a 
rule  possesses  no  one  of  the  three.  This  aristocracy 
is  the  governing  class  and  inherits  its  attributes 
from  Spanish  or  Portuguese  ancestry;  members  of 
it  may  sink  into  the  under  stratum,  but  seldom  does 
any  one  rise  from  below.  There  are,  of  course, 
instances  where  a peon  has  risen  to  the  unofficial 
nobility,  but  there  is  nothing  like  the  flux  of  society 
which  we  recognize  and  encourage  in  the  United 
States.  Practically  every  man  whose  name  we  read 
in  South  American  history  comes  from  the  aris- 


292  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


tocracy;  a common  people,  such  as  we  have  devel- 
oped here,  does  not  exist  there.  In  large  cities,  like 
Buenos  Aires  and  Montevideo,  the  Italian  or 
Spaniard  may  ascend  the  ladder,  and  English  and 
Irish  immigrants  generally  push  into  the  upper 
class.  In  Brazil  there  is  so  much  negro  blood  that 
it  colors  the  aristocracy,  and  the  rule  is  less  ap- 
parent. 

This  stamp  of  social  difference  is  a nearly  im- 
possible barrier  for  the  Northerner  to  overcome; 
in  the  professions  and  in  technical  trades  the  indi- 
vidual— German,  Scandinavian,  Anglo-Saxon — 
may  secure  employment  and  advancement,  but  the 
working-man,  the  farmer  or  the  shopkeeper,  how- 
ever much  he  may  do,  can  not  find  an  atmosphere 
that  will  give  him,  his  wife  or  his  children,  a 
healthy  outlook  on  life.  He  can  not  get  ahead, 
because  the  social  environment  is  against  him. 
Moreover,  in  Latin  American  republics  children 
born  within  the  country,  of  any  parentage  except 
those  having  diplomatic  or  temporary  residence 
there,  are  natives  and  must  be  classed  as  citizens. 
A foreigner,  therefore,  who  is  a settler,  loses  for  his 
children  the  protection  of  his  own  country,  and 
these  children  are  legally  Argentinos  or  Venezo- 
lanos,  and  so  on,  as  the  case  may  be. 

This  is  the  great  reason  why  these  countries  have 
developed  in  a direction  different  from  that  which 
marked  our  own  growth.  They  wanted  immigra- 
tion and  they  got  it,  but  in  large  orders;  the  Euro- 


LAND 


293 


peans  herded  in  colonies  where  there  was  no  civil- 
ization into  which  they  could  be  absorbed,  and  they 
consequently  remained  nothing  but  transplanted 
sprigs  of  the  Old  World ; they  did  not  change  their 
ideas  or  their  habits,  and  two  generations  have 
done  less  to  Americanize  them  than  two  years  of 
public  schooling  with  the  same  stock  in  North 
America.  They  occupy  land,  but  they  can  not  set- 
tle as  do  immigrants  with  us.  That  is  the  reason 
South  America  is  to-day  rich  in  land  but  poor  in 
labor. 

Second,  from  Lake  Maracaibo,  in  Venezuela,  to 
Bahia  Blanca,  in  Argentina,  and  beyond,  stretch 
unnumbered  square  miles  of  land  which  in  course 
of  time,  whether  in  one  generation  or  twenty, 
must  be  brought  under  cultivation.  All  the  sci- 
entific knowledge  of  intensified  agriculture  by 
which  one  hundred  human  beings  can  be  nour- 
ished on  the  soil  of  one  acre  of  ground,  all  the 
examples  of  oriental  economy  which  show  that 
four  cents  a day  and  a modicum  of  rice  can  sustain 
family  life,  argue  nothing  to  the  European  who 
wants  land  and  is  willing  to  fight  for  it.  The  Mal- 
thusian theory  of  the  ebb  and  flow  of  mortality  has 
been  proved  false;  science  is  rapidly  attacking  epi- 
demics and  destroying  them,  and  keeping  alive  the 
weaklings  who  only  a few  years  ago  were  allowed 
to  die.  Every  nation  therefore  rejoices  when  its 
birth-rate  surpasses  its  death-rate;  yet  Europe, 
tested  by  migration  statistics,  is  already  overfull, 


294  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


while  even  the  United  States,  with  our  millions  of 
untouched  acres  and  in  spite  of  promised  govern- 
mental encouragement  of  agriculture,  is  becoming 
crowded.  The  surplus  population  from  these 
places  must  go  somewhere.  Asia  is  fully  popu- 
lated, Africa  is  fully  exploited,  North  America  is 
restless,  South  America  is  the  only  remaining  spot 
on  earth  capable  of  offering  homes  to  impatient 
man. 

The  United  States  has  28  inhabitants  to  the 
square  mile,  Uruguay  has  13.5,  Brazil  has  5,  Ar- 
gentina has  5,  Venezuela  has  4,  Belgium  has  600. 
Omitting  the  coast-line  and  the  Orinoco  Valley 
of  Venezuela,  the  sugar  country  and  the  Amazon 
Valley  of  Brazil,  and  the  upper  reaches  of  the 
Parana  and  Paraguay  in  Argentina,  the  remain- 
ing area,  vast  as  it  is  and  lying  partly  within  the 
tropics  or  mountain  snows,  is  as  capable  of  support- 
ing the  white  man  as  the  United  States  or  Canada. 
Migration  of  individuals  from  the  north  would 
flow  thither  quickly  if  it  were  not  for  the  social 
question,  irrespective  of  the  instability  of  govern- 
ments. But  homes  for  individuals  are  difficult  to 
make ; men  must  form  colonies  and  land  companies, 
and  come  with  sufficient  capital  to  begin  the 
attack  on  the  soil.  Venezuela  in  her  valleys  be- 
hind the  coast  ranges  has  as  beautiful  climate  and 
scenery  as  God  ever  gave  to  man,  all  within  easy 
reach  of  the  older  civilization.  Argentina  has  in- 
estimable productive  possibilities,  but  it  is  hard  to 


CHURCH  INFLUENCES 


295 


think  of  her  prairie  as  homes  for  the  north-Euro- 
pean.  Brazil,  however,  has  millions  of  acres  of 
unfilled  land,  every  one  of  which  will,  sooner  or 
later,  be  a center  of  industry. 

The  nations  of  Europe  have  a twofold  object  in 
spreading  out  upon  the  earth’s  surface;  they  are 
eager  to  find  land  where  their  surplus  population 
may  take  root  and  expand,  but  they  also  have  an 
ambition  toward  imperialism;  like  Alexander, 
they  would  plant  the  flag  on  alien  territory.  The 
unoccupied  land  in  South  America  is  open  to  the 
view  of  any  one  sailing  the  Atlantic;  it  lies  within 
easy  reach  of  Europe,  and  sooner  or  later  it  must 
be  settled  and  cultivated  by  the  white  man. 

Other  factors  are  to  be  considered  before  we  can 
pass  judgment  on  the  present  and  future  of  South 
America.  The  Spanish  and  Portuguese  estab- 
lished the  Roman  Catholic  religion  as  the  State 
Church  in  all  countries  except  Brazil;  there  the 
law  recognizes  no  difference,  although  the  people 
themselves  are  largely  Romanists.  But  history 
shows  that  civilization  strides  onward  more  rapid- 
ly when  a country  escapes  from  too  close  an  alli- 
ance with  any  creed.  Italy,  France  and  Mexico 
have  ceased  to  submit  to  religious  interference,  and 
South  America  can  not  grasp  modern  ways  till  she 
separates  herself  more  fully  from  the  pope  and  the 
Roman  Church. 

I have  seen  the  defects  and  heard  the  cant  of  the 
foreign  missionary,  and  I have  often  refused  to 


296  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


accept  him  at  his  own  valuation;  but  I must  pause 
to  express  my  admiration  for  the  uplifting  force 
of  the  American  missionary,  the  Bible  Society,  and 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  South  America.  Their  consci- 
entious attention  to  their  work  and  to  the  ideals 
which  they  advocate  goes  far  to  establish  a high 
standard  of  morals  and  conduct — spiritual,  social 
and  hygienic — and  to  foster  a religious  sense  which 
otherwise  is  lacking.  They  offer,  chiefly  to  the 
lower  class,  but  to  the  aristocracy  also,  if  they  wish, 
an  education  which  they  can  get  in  no  other  way; 
and  it  is  education,  in  the  North  American  sense  of 
the  word,  which  South  America  needs.  Each 
country  has  a well-prepared  law,  with  numerous 
sub-articles,  arranging  the  routine  of  education, 
but  for  the  average  child  of  common  school  age  it 
stands  for  little  or  nothing.  Outside  the  big  cities 
distances  are  great,  school  buildings  few  and  teach- 
ers untrained  and  inexpert.  Statistics  about  educa- 
tion are  inaccurate,  and,  after  all,  mere  ability  to 
read  and  write  does  not  indicate  the  intellectual  or 
industrial  activity  of  a country.  As  peoples,  the 
inhabitants  of  these  four  countries  are  poorly  edu- 
cated. All  the  scholarship,  science  and  culture 
pertain  to  the  aristocracy;  of  scholarship  they  have 
abundance;  in  Caracas  or  in  Montevideo  there  are 
as  thoughtful  students  of  literature  and  philosophy 
as  in  Paris,  but  their  scholarship  is  almost  alto- 
gether intellectual,  not  productive.  Of  science 
they  are  great  admirers;  their  hospitals  and  labora- 


CULTURE 


297 


tories,  although  not  so  numerous,  are  as  well 
equipped  as  those  of  the  United  States,  and  they 
teach  all  the  exact  sciences;  but  they  do  not  know 
how  to  follow  modern  methods,  and  their  princi- 
ples are  apt  to  be  academic  rather  than  practical. 
For  physicians,  engineers  and  technicians,  they 
rely  more  upon  foreign  education  or  skill  than 
upon  their  own.  Buenos  Aires  and  Rio  can  show 
as  elaborate  engineering  construction  as  New  York 
and  San  Francisco,  while  Uruguay  and  even  Ven- 
ezuela have  wonderful  projects  for  future  develop- 
ment; but  the  plans  are  largely  European, 
although  the  schemes  have,  in  almost  all  cases, 
arisen  in  the  imagination  and  poetic  vision  of  the 
Latin  mind. 

This  imagination  and  poetry  are  the  salvation 
of  Latin  America.  Even  in  the  lower  class  art  is 
an  instinct  and  beauty  a thing  preserved.  From 
the  remnants  of  the  Carib  in  Venezuela  to  the 
newly  imported  Spaniard  or  Italian  in  Argentina, 
there  is  no  awkwardness;  the  shanty  of  the  North- 
erner proclaims  its  origin;  thatched  roof  and  adobe 
hut  have  lines  of  grace  in  them.  This  spirit  is 
manifested  in  the  upper  class  as  culture.  You  can 
not  travel  through  South  America  without  finding 
an  appreciation  of  art,  education  and  good  man- 
ners; boorishness  is  practically  unknown;  kindli- 
ness, courtesy  and  breeding  characterize  the 
people,  from  the  village  shop-keeper  and  the  cow- 
boy to  the  cabinet  officer ; and  politeness  in  question 


298  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


and  response  is  almost  universal;  thievery  is  not 
common  and  human  life  is  comparatively  safe. 

In  the  upper  class  and  in  the  cities  culture  shows 
itself  in  a love  of  art;  every  city  will  have  its 
municipal  opera-house  or  theater,  and  to  the  larger 
ones  are  invited  the  best  European  artists  who  can 
be  tempted  by  money.  French  and  Italian  troupes 
make  annual  pilgrimages  to  Argentina  and  Brazil, 
and  Venezuela  subsidizes  foreign  talent.  Sarah 
Bernhardt  has  played  often  in  Buenos  Aires, 
Montevideo  and  Rio,  and  their  inhabitants  can  not 
possibly  understand  the  news  items  which  said  that 
she  played  in  the  United  States  in  a tent.  “Why, 
have  you  no  theaters  there,  or  do  you  mean  to  say 
that  commercial  rivalry  would  prevent  the  people 
from  seeing  such  a great  artist?  How  extraordi- 
nary!” 

Culture  shows  itself  also  in  the  construction  and 
government  of  their  cities.  Caracas,  in  addition 
to  nature’s  advantages,  has  elements  of  beauty, 
while  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Bahia,  Montevideo  and 
Buenos  Aires  are  structurally  among  the  best  cities 
of  the  western  hemisphere.  When  a South  Amer- 
ican comes  to  the  United  States  he  marvels  at  the 
rush  of  life  here,  at  our  activity,  our  industry,  and 
at  our  material  successes;  but  when  he  goes  home 
he  tells  his  friends  that  as  a rule  our  cities  are  ugly 
and  ill  kept.  He  often  expresses  surprise  that  we 
have  such  unrepresentative  citizens  for  municipal 
officers,  and  that  with  our  proportionately  high 


GRAFT 


299 


tax  rate  the  people  benefit  so  slightly  and  the  poli- 
ticians spend  so  much  with  so  little  to  show  for  it. 
Generally  the  officials  of  Latin  American  cities 
are  men  of  dignity  and  civic  ambition,  though  they 
are  not  strangers  to  what  we  call  graft. 

Graft  is  the  black  spot  on  Latin  American  na- 
tional politics.  It  is  said  that  every  man  in  office 
has  his  hand  outstretched  and  that  nothing  reaches 
final  signature  until  it  has  paid  toll.  It  may  be  a 
redeeming  grace  that  in  contracts  or  questions  of 
large  import  the  first  demand  is  that  the  country 
and  the  people  shall  be  benefited;  the  second  con- 
sideration is  how  much  there  will  be  to  go  round. 
A new  railway,  a concession  for  electric  lighting, 
or  any  public  improvement,  must  first  be  accu- 
rately constructed,  technically  correct  and  conform 
to  the  best  requirements  of  art;  but  in  addition  the 
officials  must  be  conciliated.  It  is  a system.  Yet 
as  a rule  the  Latin  is  too  polite  and  diplomatic  for 
coarse  financial  slugging;  finesse  and  diplomacy 
represent  the  highest  phase  of  his  culture.  From 
the  era  of  the  Medici  and  Ferdinand  of  Aragon, 
he  has  been  compelled,  by  national  jealousies,  by 
the  machination  of  the  Church,  to  study  the  prin- 
ciples of  intrigue,  and  all  South  America  shows  it. 
His  development  has  followed  traditions  until  he 
is  the  match  for  any  statesman  in  Europe.  One 
dear  old  friend,  who  has  for  forty  years  been  in 
and  out  of  politics,  said  to  me:  “Yes,  your  diplo- 
mats come  down  here  to  be  fooled,  just  like  so 


300  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


many  others,  and  this  fooling  means  that  the  vis- 
itors are  made  to  believe  that  certain  things  are  so 
and  so,  when  in  reality  they  are  not.  The  taint  of 
Machiavelli,  which  has  been  part  of  our  inherit- 
ance, leads  us  to  suspect  that  the  United  States  to- 
day is  not  altogether  free  from  the  same  taint.” 

Ethically  speaking,  there  is  a tone  of  immorality 
running  through  all  South  American  life.  In 
diplomacy  it  may  be  called  finesse,  and  the  bluntly 
spoken  word,  which  we  fondly  think  is  the  bond  of 
an  American  or  an  Englishman,  is  hedged  by  the 
blossom  of  verbiage  so  characteristic  of  the  Ro- 
mance tongue.  I have  heard  repeated  testimony  to 
the  high  standard  of  their  financial  morality; 
bankruptcy  is  less  frequent  than  with  us  and  the 
long  credits  granted  by  English  and  German 
houses  prove  the  trustworthiness  of  ordinary  busi- 
ness men.  I know  of  one  case  on  the  Orinoco  where 
an  Englishman  once  in  six  months  meets  a trader 
from  the  interior;  he  has  no  real  security  for  his 
sales,  yet  if  at  the  end  of  the  first  half-year  the 
previous  bill  is  unpaid,  because  the  trader  could 
not  reach  Ciudad  Bolivar,  the  Englishman  does 
not  worry  at  all ; he  knows  that  when  the  year  ex- 
pires the  money  will  be  forthcoming,  penny  for 
penny.  This  method  of  long  credits  frightens  the 
American  Yankee  and  is  an  obstacle  to  trade  which 
otherwise  might  grow  into  prosperous  proportions. 

Another  so-called  manifestation  of  immorality 
is  in  their  sexual  relations.  I must,  however,  come 


DOMESTIC  LIFE 


301 


to  the  defense  of  the  South  American  woman.  I 
have  had  an  intimate  acquaintance  in  Latin  Amer- 
ican homes  for  years,  and  nowhere  in  the  world 
have  I seen  a purer  domesticity,  nowhere  is  there 
greater  domestic  service,  a sincerer  love  of  chil- 
dren or  an  honester  attempt  to  lead  the  life  which 
according  to  their  interpretation  God  intended 
them  to  lead.  In  Buenos  Aires  and  Rio  there  is  a 
fast  set,  as  there  is  in  New  York  and  Paris,  and  the 
idle  rich  make  opportunity  for  indulgence  just  as 
they  do  everywhere.  Our  ways  may  not  be  their 
ways,  nor  can  an  Anglo-Saxon  always  understand 
the  domestic  ambition  of  the  Latin;  but  it  is  a 
shocking  error  to  withhold  just  praise  from  a pure- 
minded  sex  at  the  other  side  of  the  equator.  South 
American  women  have  asked  me  why  there  were 
so  many  divorces  in  the  United  States;  with  them 
marriage  is  a sacrament  and  a social  obligation, 
and  I feel  convinced  that  they  preserve  their  vir- 
tue and  happiness  as  well  as  we  do. 

In  the  lower  class  conditions  are  different;  mar- 
riage is  more  often  a form  and  a celebration;  the 
percentage  of  illegitimacy  is  high,  and  neither 
man  nor  woman  is  discredited.  It  is  analogous  to 
what  prevails  among  the  negro  in  our  southern 
states  or  in  many  of  the  highly  civilized  and  moral 
West  Indian  islands — extra-matrimonial  maternity 
is  no  crime,  and  man,  not  woman,  is  accountable  for 
unsanctified  indulgences.  Male  chastity  is  prac- 
tically unknown,  but  the  cities  are  relatively  clean; 


302  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


in  Caracas  and  Montevideo  annoyance  on  the  street 
is  very  rarely  met  with,  although  in  Rio  and  Bue- 
nos Aires  there  is  an  atmosphere  that  offends  nice 
women.  Such  sights  as  Broadway,  Piccadilly  and 
Friedrichstrasse  present,  are  in  South  America,  as 
a rule,  undiscoverable  except  by  those  who  lust  for 
experience. 

It  is  easy  to  criticize  with  a toplofty  idealism, 
but  sober  comparisons  often  make  a traveler  less 
positive  in  his  prejudices.  Tales  of  debased  states- 
manship in  Latin  America  are  the  same  tales  we 
hear  at  home;  their  national  politics  are  less  pure 
than  ours,  but  municipal  affairs  are  conducted  in  a 
better  way.  Their  political  misfortune  is  in  many 
cases  due  to  the  fact  that  the  chief  executive  is  not 
a strong  and  righteous  man,  and  that  often,  fasci- 
nating the  party  with  a false  cry  of  patriotism,  he 
emerges  as  a military  dictator  who  seldom  rises  to 
the  height  of  Guzman  Blanco  or  Diaz.  The  peo- 
ple are  unthinking,  uneducated,  and  the  politicians 
control  the  masses  by  oratory  before  the  voting  or 
by  the  shotgun  after  it.  Universal  suffrage  is  nei- 
ther understood  nor  practised,  and  outside  influ- 
ence must  to  a great  extent  elevate  these  growing 
countries  into  an  appreciation  of  sane  politics. 
Their  revolutions  are  either  an  expression  of  the 
ambition  of  some  leader  who  can  not  wait  for  a 
peaceable  election,  or  a violent  protest  against  the 
exercise  of  illegal  power. 

Suppose  we  assume  the  viewpoint  of  an  educated 


OPINIONS 


303 


South  American,  and  prepare  a composite  picture 
whose  elements  shall  be  made  up  from  many  seri- 
ous-minded men  from  the  capitals  and  industrial 
centers  of  the  Latin  world. 

“When  you,  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
broke  free  from  English  government  and  tradi- 
tions,” (I  have  heard  it  said),  “South  America  be- 
came your  ardent  admirer;  when  the  radicalism  of 
Voltaire  and  the  iconoclasm  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion had  disturbed  the  world’s  routine,  we  in  Latin 
America  were  among  the  first  to  learn  the  new  les- 
sons; but  we  continued  to  hold  as  a pattern  and 
guide,  in  our  search  for  independence,  the  United 
States  of  North  America.  When  Bolivar  set  the 
whole  continent  on  fire,  he  turned  to  the  United 
States  for  comfort;  you  were  the  first  to  acknow- 
ledge the  autonomy  of  our  new  republics.  You 
were  the  salvation  of  South  America  against  the 
retroactive  machinations  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  and 
for  years  the  trade  from  the  Magdalena  River, 
from  Rio  Janeiro  and  Buenos  Aires,  was  largely 
carried  in  American  bottoms.  But  the  English,  the 
French,  the  Germans  have  not  been  slow  to  under- 
stand the  opportunities  south  of  the  line,  and  they 
have  invested  both  money  and  brains  in  extending 
hither  their  commerce.  As  long  as  the  United 
States  had  to  fight  for  liberty,  we  in  Latin  America 
acknowledged  that  you  were  the  supreme  beacon 
of  democracy,  but  when,  after  your  Civil  War,  you 
bounded  into  a material  prosperity  unexampled  in 


304  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


the  history  of  the  world,  and,  in  struggling  to  in- 
crease your  output,  you  seemed  sometimes  to  have 
lost  sight  of  the  principles  of  justice  and  equality 
for  which  you  had  fought,  we  in  South  America 
felt  that  your  ideals  had  become  dim.  We  began 
to  question  whether  our  development  toward  de- 
mocracy was  not  as  good  as  that  which  you  showed 
us.  When  you  began  to  look  more  and  more  to- 
ward Europe  as  the  source  of  your  ideas  and  the- 
ories, we  at  the  same  time  were  deriving  more  and 
more  financial  and  intellectual  aid  from  the  same 
source;  when  our  old  bitterness  against  Spain  had 
cooled,  it  was  questioned  whether,  after  all,  we 
could  learn  anything  from  you  not  already  learned, 
and  whether  modern  Europe  could  not  offer  more 
in  the  way  of  ideals — material,  educational  and 
even  spiritual — than  you  offered. 

“Our  men  of  culture  recognize  but  three  forms 
of  government,  as  possible  theories  to  be  worked 
out  on  South  American  soil.  The  first  is  that  rep- 
resented in  its  worst  state  by  Russia,  in  its  best  state 
by  Germany;  the  form  which  adopts  militarism, 
which  has  engrafted  upon  itself  a tax-eating  bu- 
reaucracy, and  which  advocates  the  divine  right 
of  kings.  This  last  corollary  South  America  has 
for  ever  repudiated,  but  she  appreciates  the  good 
that  Germany  does,  she  sees  how  the  national  spirit 
has  encouraged  industry,  developed  the  nation  and 
given  rise  to  a forced  altruism  that  often  aims  at 
the  greatest  good  for  the  greatest  number.  South 


ENGLISH  INFLUENCES 


3°5 


Americans  like  militarism,  we  are  flattered  by  the 
titles  and  the  glitter  of  the  army;  we  are  fond  of 
fighting,  and  we  should  with  regret  abandon  a po- 
litical system  which  had  no  place  for  the  officer, 
or  accept  one  which,  like  your  own,  makes  of  the 
officer  a civil  servant  and  a national  police.  It  was 
an  exclamation  of  surprise  when  a South  American 
reported  on  his  return  home  that  he  had  traveled 
across  the  United  States  and  never  seen  a soldier! 
We  shall  surely  have  no  empires,  but  we  may  be- 
come bureaucratic,  and,  losing  the  spirit  you  call 
democratic,  we  may  finally  drift  into  military  pa- 
ternalism. 

“The  second  form  of  government,  best  repre- 
sented by  England,  is  that  of  parliamentary  control 
of  the  nation  under  a limited  and  responsible  mon- 
arch. South  America  has  for  decades  been  upheld 
and  advanced  by  English  capital.  The  British 
banks  here,  the  splendid  Royal  Mail  Steam  Packet 
Company,  with  other  corporations  of  similar  pur- 
pose, have  been  an  educational  influence  of  incal- 
culable value.  The  £500,000,000  of  gold  which 
England  has  invested  in  railways,  industrial  com- 
panies and  land,  have  a strong  effect  on  our  thought 
and  conduct,  and  the  well-known  integrity  of 
British  finance,  commerce  and  diplomacy  has  ac- 
complished much  in  turning  our  thoughts  toward 
the  east.  However  much  intrigue  may  be  attrib- 
uted to  England,  to-day  she  is  not  to  be  suspected 
of  any  motive  beyond  a straightforward  purpose  to 


306  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


find  investment  for  her  money  and  opportunity  of 
employment  for  her  surplus  population.  English 
colonies  are  rare  in  South  America,  although  Eng- 
lishmen have  carried  their  ideas  into  the  back- 
woods  in  the  regions  of  the  Orinoco,  the  Amazon 
and  the  River  Plate.  They  are  our  friends  and  they 
are  yours.  You  will  find  that  England  is  cordially 
in  sympathy  with  the  principles  you  represent,  and 
as  cordially  opposed  to  the  aggressive  ambitions 
and  imperial  desire  for  land  of  which  Germany  is 
guilty.  England  has  done  more  than  any  other 
country  to  help  South  America — is  it  unreasonable 
to  think  that  we  may  in  the  future  look  to  her  for 
guidance?  It  is  within  probability  that  from  long 
and  intimate  association  with  England  we  may 
finally  remold  ourselves  on  her  parliamentary  and 
aristocratic  system,  discarding  the  monarch,  but  re- 
taining some  of  the  elements  of  a self-adjusting 
government  and  an  upper  class  privileged  by  land 
and  education. 

“The  third  form  of  government  is  your  own,  a 
republic  with  unrestricted  suffrage.  From  the  days 
of  your  own  struggles  for  independence  South 
America  has  looked  for  ideals  to  you,  and  we,  too, 
have  had  our  martyrs  in  the  revolt  against  Europe. 
Tiradentes  in  Brazil,  Miranda  and  Bolivar  in 
Venezuela,  were  imbued  with  the  ideas  of  govern- 
ment illustrated  in  the  United  States;  Sarmiento 
in  Argentina  copied  many  of  your  institutions,  and 
if  Rosas  and  Lopez  developed  a hated  form  of 


AMERICAN  INFLUENCES  307 


military  dictatorship,  if  Guzman  Blanco  disobeyed 
constitutions  and  ruled  as  a beneficent  despot,  the 
people  everywhere  preferred  to  submit  to  such  a 
yoke  rather  than  to  recall  any  taste  of  foreign 
power.  The  United  States  has  always,  until  a few 
years  ago,  been  quoted  to  show  what  a democracy 
could  achieve. 

“But  within  the  last  dozen  years  our  outlook  has 
changed.  Your  wiser  statesmen  and  your  scholars 
are  as  much  revered  as  ever,  but  there  is  no  longer 
in  South  America  a blind  devotion  to  you  or  to 
your  present-day  manifestation  of  democracy. 
You  have  given  us  no  money,  no  commercial  en- 
couragement (largely  of  course  because  you  were 
so  engrossed  in  your  own  limitless  industries  that 
you  could  not  expend  your  energies  upon  outside 
affairs)  ; but  of  late,  since  the  Cuban  War,  our 
feeling  that  you  have  neglected  us  in  money  and 
ceased  to  inspire  us  with  ideals,  has  changed  into 
a suspicion  that  you  are  not  quite  the  unselfish  lead- 
ers you  once  were;  self-interest,  more  than  a sin- 
cere and  lofty  patriotism,  seems  to  be  your  motive. 
You  have  become  a world  power,  you  take  your 
pattern  from  Europe,  you  prefer  to  rank  with  Eng- 
land, Germany,  France  and  Japan,  rather  than  to 
be  the  independent  leader  of  the  western  hemi- 
sphere. If  you  can  acquire  the  Filipinos,  to  whom 
you  pretend  to  offer  a benevolent  assimilation,  if 
you  can  assert  the  right  to  control  the  foreign  and 
financial  policy  of  Cuba,  if  you  assist  at  the  rape 


308  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


of  Panama,  if  you  claim  that  Santo  Domingo  might 
better  be  a fief  of  your  Congress,  what  limit  is 
there  to  a triumphant  democracy  of  that  charac- 
ter? This  is  not  our  ideal  of  self-government,  by 
any  means;  and  for  us  the  northern  beacon  of  dem- 
ocracy has  gone  out.  If  you  can  no  longer  be  our 
guide,  we  think  we  are  warranted  in  forging  a 
model  of  democracy  of  our  own.  It  may  not  be 
what  you  would  dictate,  but  it  is  our  own,  and  we 
think  we  have  the  right  to  advance  in  our  own  way, 
without  authority  or  mandate  from  the  United 
States. 

“We  recognize  that  you  have  won  a place  among 
the  nations  by  unparalleled  activity,  but  we  do  not 
blindly  admire  the  methods  employed.  We  can  see 
that  your  Congress  is  not  always  free  from  taint, 
that  your  states  are  not  models  of  far-sighted  legis- 
lation, that  your  cities  are  governed  in  a way  to 
make  us  alarmed  lest  we  should  fall  so  low.  We 
admire  your  whir  of  life,  but  it  is  not  in  the  Latin 
blood  to  imitate  it;  your  enormous  financial  trans- 
actions we  gasp  at,  but  we  do  not  necessarily  de- 
sire to  have  the  same  standard  of  morals  surround 
us.  We  have  our  race  problem,  our  railroad  prob- 
lem, our  immigration  problem,  but  until  you  work 
out  yours  correctly,  we  are  willing  to  try  a solution 
for  ourselves.  In  government,  in  ideals  and  in 
finance  you  have  not  lived  up  to  your  early  prom- 
ises, and  you  can  no  longer  be  our  schoolmaster  or 
our  monitor.  We  have  reached  our  majority,  so 


AMERICAN  MISTAKES 


309 

that  we  dare  to  criticize  you  and  to  have  inde- 
pendent thoughts  of  our  own. 

“But  let  no  one  think  that  in  South  America  the 
love  of  liberty  is  dead.  We  shall  fight  for  our  free- 
dom till  we  conquer  or  till  the  land  is  swept  clean; 
but  liberty  may  not  mean  the  same  to  us  now  as  it 
once  did,  or  does  to  you.  It  seems  as  if  conditions 
had  been  reversed,  and  that  to-day  you  in  the 
United  States,  more  than  we,  are  actuated  by  the 
greed  for  gold.  We  have  asked  you  for  the  bread 
of  pure  government  and  substantial  help,  but  you 
offer  us  only  a stone  of  trade.” 

And  even  more  than  this  is  true.  Their  heroes 
are  honest  heroes,  though  they  may  not  all  have 
shown  constructive  statesmanship;  their  patriotism 
is  sincere,  however  theoretic;  their  idealism  is 
pure,  though  produced  from  the  brain  of  the  phi- 
losopher and  poet.  Often,  on  close  contact  with 
those  who  claim  to  be  Yankees  (citizens  of  the 
United  States) , they  have  been  disappointed ; many 
a renegade  in  southern  waters  who  could  not  come 
back  has  disgraced  our  name;  they  hear  of  our 
scholars  and  statesmen,  but  have  on  occasions  re- 
ceived from  us  as  diplomats,  decayed  business  men 
and  uncultured  politicians,  whose  sole  purpose  ap- 
peared to  be  to  hold  a job  and  talk  offensively  of 
the  grandeur  of  things  at  home. 

We  are  rapidly  replacing  this  grotesque  kind  of 
consul  and  minister  by  better  educated,  more  ener- 


310  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 

getic  and  more  decent  men  who  do  not  betray  us, 
and  who  try  to  show  that  we  have  accomplished 
something  better  than  a crude  material  prosperity. 
If  we  wish  to  rank  with  England  and  Germany,  we 
can  do  so  only  by  treating  South  America  with  the 
dignity  shown  by  Europe.  They  are  all  a kindly 
folk;  courtesy  is  a virtue  which  with  them  is 
much  more  a habit  of  daily  life  than  with  us,  and 
contentment  is  there  much  more  easily  attained.  It 
may  be  questioned  whether  we  in  our  social  scheme 
have  advanced  above  South  America,  as  long  as 
we  show  the  brutality  of  the  mobs  at  the  Brooklyn 
Bridge,  or  the  slums  of  our  big  industrial  cities.  It 
is  acknowledged  by  them  that  we  have  the  highest 
standard  of  living  on  earth,  but  they  add  that  not 
all  of  us  reach  it;  our  material  prosperity  is  so  ir- 
regularly distributed  that  it  has  caused  a wide- 
spread discontent,  and  the  rainbow  of  happiness 
seems  almost  to  have  disappeared.  I never  met  a 
man  who  had  really  lived  in  South  America  who 
did  not  say,  after  he  had  relieved  himself  of  certain 
critical  bile  distressing  his  Anglo-Saxon  stomach: 
“But  after  all,  they  are  a mighty  nice  people  and 
when  once  you  learn  how  to  get  along  with  them 
life  is  very  pleasant  under  the  Southern  Cross.” 

But  there  is  another  feature  of  neighborliness 
with  South  America,  which  seems  usually  to  be 
unknown  or  forgotten  or  ignored,  in  discussing  the 
means  of  increasing  our  influence  over  nations  with 
whom  we  have  now  scarcely  a speaking  acquaint- 


FOREIGN  INVESTMENTS 


3 1 1 

ance.  I refer  to  the  investment  of  money  within  the 
territory  itself  in  the  way  of  large  enterprises,  such 
as  railways  and  all  industries  which  employ  labor 
and  bring  into  productiveness  the  unoccupied  land. 
These  countries  all  have  land  to  sell,  they  all  eager- 
ly beg  for  the  brains  and  talent  of  modern  produc- 
tive life;  they  know  that  the  skill  to  contrive,  the 
power  to  build  and  the  force  to  expand  comes  from 
north-Europe  and  from  the  United  States.  Ar- 
gentina and  Uruguay  are  controlled  by  English 
capital  and  methods,  Brazil  partly  so,  though  she 
has  dreams  and  schemes  of  her  own.  Venezuela  has 
made  only  the  beginning  and  still  waits  for  the 
magician  who  can  coin  her  oratory  into  cattle  and 
her  love  of  country  into  commercial  highways.  It 
is  a conservative  estimate  that  England  has  invested 
in  Argentina  £300,000,000,  in  Uruguay  £60,000,- 
000,  in  Brazil  £70,000,000,  in  Venezuela  £10,000,- 
000.  Germany  in  these  four  countries  may  have 
£40,000,000  and  the  United  States  perhaps  £4,000,- 
000. 

At  least  forty  per  cent,  of  this  is  invested  under 
government  guaranty  and  subsidy.  In  some  cases 
the  nation,  in  others  the  state,  gives  official  security 
for  these  loans.  Diplomatic  representatives  from 
these  nations  have  negotiated  for  moneys  and  have 
given  government  sanction  to  the  promise  that  the 
interest  will  be  met  and  the  capital  be  repaid. 
This  is  a principle  of  which  we  now  know  little; 
some  of  our  states  have  borrowed  money  abroad 


312 


THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


and  brought  lasting  disgrace  upon  themselves  by 
repudiating  these  debts,  but  as  a rule  we  obtain 
money  from  within  our  own  borders.  South  Amer- 
ica has  no  money  of  her  own ; she  was  for  years  ex- 
ploited and  robbed  by  Europe,  and  she  has  now 
only  land  and  the  riches  that  go  with  it  to  sell. 
Every  country  there  mortgages  her  customs,  her 
taxes  and  her  future  crops  to  Europe,  and  has  a 
reasonable  hope  that  along  with  capital  there  will 
flow  into  the  land  immigrants  and  settlers  who  will 
develop  her  resources,  and  become  in  time  good 
citizens.  Investments  have  been  less  safe  than  with 
us,  not  because  men  are  trickier,  but  because  a gov- 
ernment guaranty  has  been  necessary  before  money 
is  respected,  and  the  stronger  the  nation  from  which 
the  investor  hails  the  greater  the  prospect  that  this 
government  guaranty  will  be  observed.  But  to- 
day there  are  unlimited  possibilities  for  the  invest- 
ment of  money,  quite  apart  from  such  protection, 
because  the  national  governments  are  getting 
stronger,  and  because  the  commercial  nations  are 
demanding  that  financial  action  be  unrestrained 
and  that  governments  obey  their  own  laws,  give 
freedom  to  the  expansive  tendencies  of  older  na- 
tions, and  offer  only  that  security  which  any  self- 
respecting  people  know  must  be  maintained. 

Any  combination  of  capital  can  find  in  South 
America,  as  in  Cuba,  magnificent  opportunities  for 
investment.  Energy  will  be  required — American 
hustle — skill  and  forethought,  but  no  more  than  is 


OPPORTUNITIES 


3 r3 


necessary  to-day  in  our  own  land  to  make  an  enter- 
prise “go  through.”  A concession  must  be  obtained, 
equivalent  to  charters  under  our  state  or  city  gov- 
ernments, but  the  prospect  for  future  growth  is 
greater,  and  if  we  wish  such  investments,  they  will 
furnish  outlet  for  our  younger  brains,  perhaps  af- 
ford homes  to  some  of  our  surplus  population,  and 
give  us  a vital  interest  in  those  countries.  If  we  are 
not  willing  to  invest  money  within  them,  we  have 
no  right  to  direct  or  to  dictate  the  course  they  may 
elect  to  pursue.  Of  course,  nothing  in  all  this  ex- 
cludes the  value  of  increasing  our  commerce  with 
South  America,  nor  is  it  meant  to  belittle  the  im- 
mense trade  possibilities  which  can  be  made  reali- 
ties if  we  take  advantage  of  them;  but  this  must  be 
done  in  the  right  way. 

I should  say  that  Argentina  is  the  most  advanced 
country  in  South  America;  she  is  the  land  of  op- 
portunity and  promise;  Buenos  Aires  is  as  full  of 
life  and  gaiety,  comfort  and  luxury,  modern 
thought  and  unrest,  as  New  York  and  Paris.  Uru- 
guay is  socially  New  Spain,  geographically  a per- 
petual garden;  but  she  clouds  her  future  by  the 
self-destruction  of  internal  war.  Brazil  opens  her 
hospitable  lap  to  the  enterprise  of  the  world,  and, 
however  slothful  or  dormant  her  people  may  ap- 
pear, there  is  beneath  the  surface  an  energy  and  an 
ambition  which  sooner  or  later  will  make  her  one 
of  the  powers  of  the  world.  Venezuela  needs  years 
of  firm,  stable  government  before  she  can  show 


314  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


either  a consuming  or  a producing  people;  trade, 
apart  from  certain  well-sustained  lines,  is  at  a very 
low  ebb,  and  at  present  all  investments  are  insecure, 
especially  if  the  money  is  to  be  developed  within 
the  country  itself.  Impartial  observers  will  assert 
that  outside  forces  must  for  a generation  to  come 
be  brought  to  influence  Venezuela  before  migra- 
tion or  money  can  with  any  certainty  find  lodgment 
in  that  beautiful,  fertile,  but  unhappy  country. 

Of  the  25,000,000  inhabitants  east  of  the  Andes, 
the  consuming  capacity  scarcely  equals  12,000,000 
North  Americans.  The  greater  part  of  this  popu- 
lation is  concentrated  in  the  large  cities.  The  pro- 
ducing activity  is  chiefly  confined  to  agriculture 
and  cattle,  and  local  manufacture  of  the  simpler 
necessities  of  life.  Industrial  energy  is  growing, 
and  whoever  undertakes  to  supply  their  wants,  in 
what  may  be  called  the  domestic  commodities,  must 
be  prepared  to  compete  not  only  with  the  output  of 
locally  equipped  factories  and  such  plants  employ- 
ing cheap  labor,  knowing  the  needs  of  the  people 
and  enjoying  a protective  tariff,  but  also  with  the 
well-organized  and  skilful  merchants  of  England, 
Germany  and  France. 

Trade  the  world  over  is  secured  by  the  person 
who  can  sell  better  goods  for  the  same  price,  or 
equal  goods  for  a less  price.  No  other  rule  will 
work  in  the  long  run.  South  America  fosters  trade 
and  is  careless  who  gets  it.  Any  American  going 
to  any  city  there,  if  he  have  pluck,  perseverance, 


TRADE  POSSIBILITIES 


3i5 


cash  and  good  stuff  to  sell,  can  sell  it  if  it  is  wanted ; 
but  he  must  study  the  markets,  he  must  act  honestly, 
learn  the  customs  of  the  consumers,  and  fight  for 
what  trade  he  can  get.  The  South  Americans  are 
not  naked  savages,  waiting  to  be  clothed,  grateful 
for  the  cast-off  garments  of  a higher  race;  it  is  not 
the  necessities  of  life  which  they  lack,  but  some  of 
the  comforts,  many  of  the  luxuries,  and  above  all, 
the  means  to  increase  their  productive  capacity. 
This  implies  the  better  grade  of  manufactured 
goods,  especially  machinery,  either  for  individual 
effort  or  for  the  larger  industries  by  which  manu- 
facturing plants  of  their  own  can  be  set  in  motion. 
American  sellers  must  have  their  own  agents  and 
independent  exhibits;  it  will  not  do  to  select  an 
English  or  a German  house  through  which  to  offer 
American  wares.  Dignified,  high-grade  Amer- 
ican establishments  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Montevideo 
and  Buenos  Aires  will  do  much  to  attract  trade 
our  way.  This  would  encourage  the  location  of  an 
American  bank,  and  would  help  solve  the  vexing 
question  of  an  American  line  of  steamers  to  South 
America. 

It  is  not  a matter  of  necessity  to  subsidize  steam- 
ers; the  great  bulk  of  trade  profitable  to  our  mer- 
chants is  in  the  hands  of  the  trusts.  Kerosene  oil, 
agricultural  implements,  railway  supplies,  many 
tools  for  the  skilled  trades,  are  what  find  their  way 
south  of  the  equator,  and  the  manufacturers  can 
as  well  afford  to  pay  for  transportation  as  the 


3 1 6 THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


American  people;  but  to  pay  a moderate  sum  for 
the  direct  carriage  of  mails  under  the  American 
flag,  properly  safe-guarding  the  contract  so  that 
the  cost  only  is  covered,  would  be  a wise  act.  If  the 
government  goes  further,  the  next  step  should  be 
national  ownership  and  management  of  a steamer 
line.  If  we  can  operate  the  Panama  Railway  and 
build  the  canal,  we  certainly  can  operate  steamers 
as  a branch  of  the  national  Post-office.  This  would 
impress  South  Americans  and  would  be  the  great- 
est educational  object  lesson  of  our  power  and 
dignity  that  could  possibly  be  conceived. 

At  the  risk  of  being  accused  on  the  one  hand  of 
repetition  or  on  the  other  of  failure  to  give  such 
details  as  will  be  of  service  to  those  who  are  hoping 
to  expand  American  commerce  in  the  direction  of 
South  America,  I add  a few  words  concerning 
trade  possibilities  in  that  continent.  There  are  two 
great  mistakes  made  by  American  business  men  in 
their  study  of  those  markets.  One  is  the  lack  of 
comprehension  of  what  those  people  require,  the 
other  is  their  unwillingness  to  persevere  in  efforts 
to  secure  the  trade. 

Most  persons  to  whom  I have  spoken  confess  to 
a hazy  idea  of  the  civilization  existing  in  Latin 
America;  in  the  big  cities  like  Buenos  Aires,  Rio 
de  Janeiro  and  Valparaiso,  this  is  as  advanced  as 
with  us  or  in  Europe,  but  it  does  not  sink  as  deep 
into  the  lower  elements  of  the  social  structure. 
Away  from  these  big  cities  there  are  foci  of  this 


TRADE  CONDITIONS 


3i7 


high  standard  of  living,  but  as  a rule  the  common 
people  are  comparable  only  to  a primitive  Old 
World  peasantry.  These  country  areas  are  by  no 
means  so  thickly  settled  as  they  are  in  Europe,  or 
even  with  us.  Consequently,  the  demand  for  any 
class  of  trade  product  is  proportionately  low  and 
the  market  restricted.  In  the  big  cities,  the  people 
buy  just  what  we  buy,  with  modifications  depend- 
ing upon  climate,  fashion,  local  environment  or 
habit.  Away  from  the  cities  necessity  plays  a much 
greater  part  than  fashion. 

It  must  be  remembered,  too,  that  England  and 
Germany,  with  France,  have  been  industrially 
utilizing  these  markets  for  years,  so  that  the  field 
is  by  no  means  new.  What  they  sell  we  can  sell,  be 
it  cotton  goods,  shoes,  pianos,  or  machinery.  No 
one  can  foretell  what  the  people  want,  or  what  they 
will  buy,  without  a systematic  investigation  of  their 
desires  and  requirements.  Herein  lie  our  errors. 
Hitherto  we  have  rarely  needed  a foreign  market 
in  which  to  dispose  of  our  products,  because  we 
had  not  reached  the  consuming  capacity  of  our 
own  people;  this  limit  we  are  practically  (not  the- 
oretically) just  approaching;  such  large  industrial 
organizations  as  the  International  Harvester  Com- 
pany, the  Singer  Sewing  Machine  Company,  with 
numerous  others  of  like  strength,  have  canvassed 
the  field  thoroughly,  and  have  men  constantly  all 
over  the  world  looking  for  business;  but  the 
smaller  American  manufacturer  is  new  to  the  for- 


3 1 8 THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


eign  trade  opportunities,  and  must  bestir  himself 
if  he  hopes  to  sell  his  goods  in  South  America. 

There  is  only  one  way  to  do  this.  R.  G.  Dun 
and  Company  have  a branch  in  Buenos  Aires, 
through  which  any  information  can  be  obtained 
concerning  trade  chances  and  opportunities.  By 
consultation  with  them,  or  with  the  International 
Bureau  of  American  Republics  in  Washington,  the 
beginnings  of  a business  can  be  laid  down.  But  the 
next  step  is  the  more  important.  The  manufac- 
turer, or  association  of  manufacturers,  must  send 
good  men  to  the  principal  city  or  cities,  and  keep 
them  there.  These  agents  must  be  Americans.  It 
is  folly  to  expect  an  English  or  a German  house 
already  on  the  ground  to  push  American  goods, 
sometimes  in  competition  with  English  or  German 
stuff.  At  first  trade  may  be  slow  and  expenses 
greater  than  profits,  but  that  is  just  the  time  to  stick 
to  it;  the  man  or  corporation  afraid  to  spend  money 
had  better  not  enter  South  American  competition. 

Nothing  so  disheartens  the  traveler,  if  he  is  from 
the  States,  as  to  see  in  these  great  capitals  small, 
cheap  and  one-horse  shops  pointed  out  as  “Amer- 
ican,” or  to  be  asked  by  men  of  extensive  interests, 
“Why  do  not  your  big  men  of  business  have  repre- 
sentative agencies  here?”  South  American  mer- 
chants would  really  welcome  North  American 
enterprise,  if  it  were  conducted  in  the  proper  way. 

An  attempt  to  answer  the  question  about  the  pre- 
vailing character  of  goods  purchased  in  any  coun- 


NEEDS 


3r9 


try,  might  be  misleading  if  detail  were  carried  too 
far,  but  broad  statements  may  be  made.  Venezuela 
must  be  left  out  of  consideration;  trade  is  stagnant 
there,  and  even  the  European  houses  have  only 
traveling  men  who  merely  take  orders.  Industry 
must  wait  till  good  government  comes  to  assure  a 
square  deal  to  all,  or  till  outside  forces  compel  that 
nation  to  encourage  foreign  energy  knocking  at  her 
door.  Colombia,  Ecuador,  and  Bolivia  are  waiting 
for  the  Panama  Canal,  and  though  they  have 
immense  areas  for  agriculture,  at  present  they  are 
interested  chiefly  in  mining  and  railroad  construc- 
tion. Every  South  American  country  needs  money 
with  which  to  develop  its  natural  resources;  even 
coffee  and  cotton  must  have  machinery,  but  sugar 
and  rubber  can  not  be  produced  without  heavy  in- 
vestments months  or  years  before  returns  come  in. 
Peru  and  Chile  on  the  west  coast,  but  particularly 
Argentina  and  Brazil  on  the  Atlantic,  are  the  coun- 
tries most  open  to  our  trade.  In  the  cities  they  need 
building  material,  construction  supplies,  industrial 
machinery,  tools  and  equipment  for  running  busi- 
ness on  a modern  scale.  Clothing  of  all  kinds  they 
buy,  but  Brazil  and  Argentina  both  export  cotton; 
both  have  hides  and  make  shoes  fairly  acceptable 
to  the  local  demand.  As  in  Europe,  here,  too, 
American  machine-made  goods  find  the  readiest 
sale  where  local  machinery  is  not  producing 
enough  to  crowd  out  the  imported  article. 

But  what  the  South  American  wants  most  of  all 


320  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


is  North  American  capital  and  energy  with  brains. 
If  we  should  build  a railway  east  of  the  Andes,  if 
our  financiers  should  once  become  interested  in  any 
of  the  great  industrial  enterprises  demanding  the 
investment  of  money,  as  has  been  the  case  in  Cen- 
tral America,  Mexico  and  only  recently  in  Cuba, 
if  we  only  would  buy  some  of  their  surplus  land 
and  make  of  it  suitable  homes  for  those  who  need 
them,  then  we  could  more  easily  take  a hand  in  the 
problems  of  the  immediate  future. 

This  future  permits  of  three  paths;  which  will 
East  Andean  South  America  follow?  The  first, 
which  is  to-day  the  line  of  least  resistance,  means 
the  final  adoption  of  European  ideas,  methods  and 
customs.  England  and  Germany  are  the  control- 
ling influences  now.  South  Americans  will  never 
voluntarily  become  dependents  of  Europe,  but 
they  may  gradually  be  driven  to  acknowledge  that 
pure  democracy  is  a failure  and  therefore  be  will- 
ing to  see  established  on  American  soil  a European- 
ized paternalism. 

The  second  lies  beneath  the  overshadowing  ter- 
ror of  a usurping  imperialism.  If  England  or  Ger- 
many asserts  that  might  is  right,  that  their  capital 
invested  there  is  best  preserved  by  a direct  power 
which  is  responsible  only  to  London  or  Berlin,  if 
overflowing  Europe  can  not  be  restrained  and  if 
they  seize  as  colonial  possessions  the  virgin  acres  of 
these  relatively  weak  nations,  there  will  be  bloody 
war.  It  may  be  with  more  benignant  purpose  than 


DEMOCRACY 


321 


the  Spanish  invasion  of  four  centuries  ago,  but  it 
will  likewise  be  a war  of  conquest;  this  time  not 
for  gold  or  for  booty,  but  for  land  on  which  mil- 
lions may  live.  Commercially  and  strategically 
Argentina  attaches  to  England.  Brazil  is  loose- 
jointed  and  might  lose  some  of  her  territory  to  Ger- 
many and  England,  but  the  country  will  remain 
democratic  as  long  as  the  word  persists  in  language. 
Venezuela  is  ours,  as  much  as  Cuba  is,  and  Santo 
Domingo,  and  all  the  land  watered  by  the  Carib- 
bean. Our  influence  there  must  be  paramount  as 
long  as  we  have  the  strength  to  police  the  area  con- 
tiguous to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  third  path  means  that  in  the  end  American 
democracy  will  be  triumphant.  England  is  our 
friend  in  this  and  she  would  like  to  see  us  do  as  she 
has  done.  I met  no  Englishman  who  really  wished 
territorial  expansion  in  South  America,  but  they 
all  think  that  the  time  is  coming  when  accumulated 
debts  must  be  paid,  either  by  compulsory  arbitra- 
tion or  by  such  tutelage  as  England  is  to-day  exer- 
cising over  Egypt;  and  I am  convinced  that  not  all 
of  South  America  would  object  to  it.  Neither  did 
I meet  any  Yankee  who  wished  our  flag  to  fly  over 
any  South  American  soil,  yet  many  settlers  and 
travelers  thought  that  we  were  carrying  our  policy 
too  far  in  encouraging  a defiance  to  moral  obliga- 
tions. 

Concerning  Germany,  my  impression  was  other- 
wise. A South  American  said  to  me  in  all  serious- 


322  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


ness:  “It  will  not  be  many  years  before  Germany 
tries  to  seize  some  of  this  land.  She  is  extending 
her  trade  enormously,  but  with  an  ulterior  pur- 
pose; she  can  never  have  so  much  at  stake  as  Eng- 
land, but  her  people  are  here  and  they  intend  to 
stay.  If  you  take  no  vital  interest  in  us,  what  are 
you  going  to  do  when  Germany  demands  satisfac- 
tion?” 

The  question  is  scarcely  one  for  academic  discus- 
sion. It  is  a matter  for  action.  If  we  are  to  take 
part  in  their  affairs  we  must  be  neighborly;  invest 
money,  send  honest  men  to  develop  these  rich  fields 
and  to  add  fresh  energy  to  the  exuberant  South 
American  imagination.  This  is  the  only  way  by 
which  can  result  a real  sisterhood  of  republics  to 
overcome  the  spirit  of  aristocracy  and  class  which 
is  at  present  dominant. 

Although  the  recent  visit  of  Secretary  Root,  in 
the  dignity  of  his  high  office  and  the  unusual  charm 
of  his  personality,  has  done  much  to  make  South 
America  less  suspicious  of  the  future,  there  is  still 
a fear  that  the  United  States  is  not  a faithful  or 
sincere  ally;  that  instead  of  a defender  of  true 
democracy  we  have  determined  to  become  a land- 
grabbing world  power,  bent  on  beating  into  line 
those  who  do  not  act  as  we  think  best;  and  that  our 
rod  of  chastisement  is  that  unclarified  thing  called 
the  Monroe  Doctrine.  In  the  United  States  this  is  a 
fetish ; the  people  have  heard  of  it,  orators  quote  it, 
politicians  dangle  it  before  the  eyes  of*  the  for- 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  323 


eigner,  but  statesmen  can  not  define  it.  In  South 
America  it  is  public  gossip.  The  newspapers  let 
scarcely  a day  pass  without  mentioning  it,  neigh- 
bors discuss  it  in  the  streets  and  government  offi- 
cials hate  it  because  they  do  not  know  what  it 
means.  If  the  United  States  wants  to  act  honestly 
and  generously  to  the  South  American  republics  it 
can  not  begin  in  a more  straightforward  manner 
than  by  accurately  defining  “The  Monroe  Doc- 
trine.” 


CHAPTER  TWENTY 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

The  political  romance  of  the  nineteenth  century 
is  the  American  Monroe  Doctrine.  Nearly  a hun- 
dred years  before  its  assertion  Europe  saw  the 
awakening  of  a new  life  in  the  world’s  history,  and 
the  era  marked  by  the  names  of  Voltaire  and  Rous- 
seau has  well  been  called  the  dawn  of  reason  and 
common  sense.  Out  of  it  grew  that  earlier  romance 
in  modern  politics  expressed  by  the  motto,  Liberte, 
Egal'ite,  Fraternite,  which  culminated  in  the 
French  Revolution;  and  it  was  a mighty  struggle 
before  common  sense  again  showed  itself  in  the 
foundation  of  the  present  republic. 

After  our  own  hard-won  independence  and  out 
of  the  agitation  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  there  grew 
up  the  necessity  of  declaring  that  the  principle  of 
monarchy  must  be  confined  in  its  battle  for  life  or 
death  to  the  Old  World,  and  that  the  principle  of 
constitutional  government  without  a legalized 
hereditary  aristocracy,  and  with  leaders  chosen 
only  by  the  people’s  vote,  must  be  allowed  to  live 
or  die  by  itself  in  the  New  World. 

When  President  Monroe  issued  his  astonishing 

324 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  325 


message  in  1823  the  reactionary  Holy  Alliance  was 
fastening  its  clutches  on  Europe.  If  the  Great 
Powers  had  been  granted  their  desires,  Russia 
might  have  extended  her  possessions  in  our  neigh- 
borhood, and  the  Spanish  colonies  in  revolt  would 
have  been  dragged  back  to  bondage;  but  the  states- 
men of  America  and  England  were  far-seeing 
enough  to  recognize  that  the  result  would  be  dis- 
astrous to  the  progress  of  human  liberty.  The  di- 
vine right  of  kings  had  become  a farce,  and  it  had 
been  repeatedly  proved  that  colonies  in  a new 
world  could  be  retained,  not  by  force,  but  only  by 
sympathy.  It  was  therefore  our  purpose  to  check 
any  attempt  from  Europe  to  invade  American  soil. 
In  this  way  we  insisted  that  here  the  liberty  of  de- 
mocracy must  be  permitted  to  work  out  its  destiny. 

The  message  of  President  Monroe  says: 

At  the  proposal  of  the  Russian  imperial  government,  made 
through  the  minister  of  the  Emperor  residing  here,  full 
power  and  instructions  have  been  transmitted  to  the  minister 
of  the  United  States  at  St.  Petersburg,  to  arrange,  by  am- 
icable negotiation,  the  respective  rights  and  interests  of  the 
two  nations  on  the  northwest  coast  of  this  continent.  A 
similar  proposal  has  been  made  by  his  Imperial  Majesty  to 
the  government  of  Great  Britain,  which  has  likewise  been 
acceded  to.  The  government  of  the  United  States  has  been 
desirous,  by  this  friendly  proceeding,  of  manifesting  the 
great  value  which  they  have  invariably  attached  to  the 
friendship  of  the  Emperor,  and  their  solicitude  to  cultivate 
the  best  understanding  with  his  government.  In  the  discus- 
sions to  which  this  interest  has  given  rise,  and  in  the  ar- 
rangements by  which  they  may  terminate,  the  occasion  has 
been  judged  proper  for  asserting,  as  a principle  in  which  the 
rights  and  interests  of  the  United  States  are  involved,  that 


326  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


the  American  continents,  by  the  free  and  independent  con- 
dition which  they  have  assumed  and  maintained , are  hence- 
forth not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for  future  colonization 
by  any  European  powers. 

It  was  stated,  at  the  commencement  of  the  last  session, 
that  a great  effort  was  then  making  in  Spain  and  Portugal 
to  improve  the  condition  of  the  people  of  those  countries, 
and  that  it  appeared  to  be  conducted  with  extraordinary 
moderation.  It  need  scarcely  be  remarked  that  the  result 
has  been,  so  far,  very  different  from  what  was  then  antici- 
pated. Of  events  in  that  quarter  of  the  globe,  with  which  we 
have  so  much  intercourse,  and  from  which  we  derive  our 
origin,  we  have  always  been  anxious  and  interested  specta- 
tors. The  citizens  of  the  United  States  cherish  sentiments 
the  most  friendly,  in  favor  of  the  liberty  and  happiness  of 
their  fellow-men  on  that  side  of  the  Atlantic.  In  the  wars 
of  the  European  powers,  in  matters  relating  to  themselves, 
we  have  never  taken  any  part,  nor  does  it  comport  with  our 
policy  so  to  do.  It  is  only  when  our  rights  are  invaded,  or 
seriously  menaced,  that  we  resent  injuries,  or  make  prepara- 
tion for  our  defense.  With  the  movements  in  this  hemi- 
sphere we  are,  of  necessity,  more  immediately  connected,  and 
by  causes  which  must  be  obvious  to  all  enlightened  and  im- 
partial observers.  The  political  system  of  the  allied  powers  is 
essentially  different,  in  this  respect,  from  that  of  America. 
This  difference  proceeds  from  that  which  exists  in  their  re- 
spective governments.  And  to  the  defense  of  our  own,  which 
has  been  achieved  by  the  loss  of  so  much  blood  and  treasure, 
and  matured  by  the  wisdom  of  their  most  enlightened  citi- 
zens, and  under  which  we  have  enjoyed  unexampled  felicity, 
this  whole  nation  is  devoted.  We  owe  it,  therefore,  to  can- 
dor, and  to  the  amicable  relations  existing  between  the 
United  States  and  those  powers,  to  declare  that  we  should 
consider  any  attempt  on  their  part  to  extend  their  system  to 
any  portion  of  this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and 
safety.  With  the  existing  colonies  or  dependencies  of  any 
European  power  we  have  not  interfered,  and  shall  not  inter- 
fere. But  with  governments  who  have  declared  their  inde- 
pendence. and  maintained  it,  and  whose  independence  we 
have,  on  great  consideration  and  on  just  principles  acknow- 
ledged, we  could  not  view  any  interposition  for  the  purpose 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  327 

of  oppressing  them,  or  controlling,  in  any  manner,  their  des- 
tiny, by  any  European  power,  in  any  other  light  than  as  the 
manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  toward  the  United 
States.  In  the  war  between  those  new  governments  and 
Spain  we  declared  our  neutrality  at  the  time  of  their  recogni- 
tion, and  to  this  we  have  adhered,  and  shall  continue  to  ad- 
here, provided  no  change  shall  occur  which,  in  the  judgment 
of  the  competent  authorities  of  this  government,  shall  make 
a corresponding  change,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
indispensable  to  their  security. 

The  late  events  in  Spain  and  Portugal  show  that  Europe 
is  still  unsettled.  Of  this  important  fact  no  stronger  proof 
can  be  adduced  than  that  the  allied  powers  should  have 
thought  it  proper,  on  any  principle  satisfactory  to  themselves, 
to  have  interposed,  by  force,  in  the  internal  concerns  of 
Spain.  To  what  extent  such  interposition  may  be  carried, 
on  the  same  principle,  is  a question  to  which  all  independent 
powers,  whose  governments  differ  from  theirs,  are  interested  ; 
even  those  most  remote  and  surely  none  more  so  than  the 
United  States.  Our  policy  in  regard  to  Europe,  which  was 
adopted  at  an  early  stage  of  the  wars  which  have  so  long  ag- 
itated that  quarter  of  the  globe,  nevertheless  remains  the 
same,  which  is,  not  to  interfere  in  the  internal  concerns  of 
any  of  its  powers ; to  consider  the  government  de  facto  as 
the  legitimate  for  us ; to  cultivate  friendly  relations  with  it, 
and  to  preserve  those  relations  by  a frank,  firm  and  manly 
policy;  meeting,  in  all  instances,  the  just  claims  of  every 
power;  submitting  to  injuries  from  none.  But,  in  regard  to 
those  continents,  circumstances  are  eminently  and  conspicu- 
ously different.  It  is  impossible  that  the  allied  powers  should 
extend  their  political  system  to  any  portion  of  either  conti- 
nent, without  endangering  our  peace  and  happiness;  nor  can 
any  one  believe  that  our  southern  brethren  if  left  to  them- 
selves, would  adopt  it  of  their  own  accord.  It  is  equally  im- 
possible, therefore,  that  we  should  behold  such  interposition, 
in  any  form,  with  indifference.  If  we  look  to  the  compara- 
tive strength  and  resources  of  Spain  and  those  new  govern- 
ments, and  their  distance  from  each  other,  it  must  be  obvious 
that  she  can  never  subdue  them.  It  is  still  the  true  policy  of 
the  United  States  to  leave  the  parties  to  themselves,  in  the 
hope  that  other  powers  will  pursue  the  same  course. 


328  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


It  must  be  remembered  that  never  have  these 
words  received  such  government  sanction  as  to  be 
officially  enrolled  upon  our  statute  books,  never 
have  they  been  openly  recognized  by  other  nations, 
never  have  they  been  established  as  an  acknow- 
ledged principle  of  international  law;  we  have  not 
ourselves,  in  every  instance,  carried  out  the  logical 
conclusion  of  the  words,  nor,  where  we  have  in  the 
past  resorted  to  their  spirit,  have  we  always  put  the 
same  interpretation  upon  them.  Although  we  have 
taken  it  for  granted  that  what  was  already  in  the 
possession  of  European  powers  should  be  left  in- 
tact, we  still  hold  that  American  territory  must  not 
be  transferred  by  sale  or  conquest  to  any  nation  but 
ourselves. 

South  America  does  not  always  confess  how 
much  the  Monroe  Doctrine  contributed  to  the 
preservation  of  those  early  struggling  nations;  yet 
careful  students  of  history  there  gratefully  assert 
that  had  it  not  been  for  the  United  States  England 
might  have  seized  Argentina  and  Uruguay;  or  had 
we  not  been  eternally  vigilant,  Germany  would 
long  ago  have  had  her  flag  flying  over  South  Bra- 
zil; without  the  Monroe  Doctrine  Venezuela 
would  have  been  and  would  still  be  a weird  field  of 
scramble  for  the  unemployed  of  England,  Ger- 
many and  France.  Many  observers  to-day  express 
the  fear — some  the  hope — that  such  action  is  not 
yet  beyond  possibility,  but  politicians  or  excited 
statesmen  in  South  America  discredit  our  support 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  329 


and  claim  that  of  themselves  they  would  have  been 
able  to  maintain  their  independence. 

In  the  United  States  the  words  and  the  sense  of 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  are  nevertheless  chiefly  of 
historical  significance,  and  neither  politicians, 
statesmen  nor  the  thinking  public  understand  their 
implication;  and  this  is  relatively  true  of  South 
America  as  well.  We  may  leave  out  of  consider- 
ation the  West  Andean  republics;  Chile  is  nearly 
able  to  care  for  herself,  she  is  pugnacious  and  will 
yield  to  no  one;  Peru,  Bolivia,  Ecuador  and  Co- 
lombia are  mountain  and  mineral  countries,  and 
however  much  agricultural  land  they  may  possess, 
their  future  does  not  offer  attractions  for  a dream 
of  European  influence  or  conquest,  and  moreover, 
the  Panama  Canal  will  always  be  a safeguard 
against  European  aggression.  Mexico  has  reached 
the  stage  where  she  can  progress  in  an  American 
way  and  work  out  her  own  destiny.  Central  Amer- 
ica must  be  dominated  by  the  example  of  the 
United  States  and  Mexico.  But  the  great  land- 
owning nations  on  the  Atlantic,  Argentina, 
Uruguay,  Brazil  and  Venezuela,  are  those  most 
influenced  by  European  thought,  most  open  to 
European  capital  and  migration,  and  most  expres- 
sive of  their  opinion  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 

Without  reference  to  any  particular  application 
of  its  spirit,  a careful  study  will  show  that  there  are 
four  ways  in  which  this  Monroe  Doctrine  can  be 
interpreted: 


330  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


1.  We  may  abandon  the  Monroe  Doctrine  com- 
pletely. This  has  been  done;  there  are  instances  in 
which  we  have  permitted  American  soil  to  be  ab- 
sorbed by  a European  power,  and  we  may  permit 
it  again,  but  no  monarchy  has  ever  been  established 
here  with  our  consent;  for  Brazil,  before  1823,  had 
an  empire  which  fell  to  pieces  of  its  own  weight 
in  1889,  a°d  the  bastard  French  empire  of  Mexico 
died  before  we  had  time  actively  to  protest.  It  may 
therefore  be  taken  for  granted  that  no  crown  can 
survive  the  ineradicable  hatred  of  republican 
America. 

2.  We  may  force  the  Monroe  Doctrine  to  its 
fullest  theoretic  limit  and  insist,  by  declaring  war 
if  necessary,  that  American  soil  be  held  sacred  to 
that  one  American  institution  of  democratic  self- 
government,  and  that  each  country  be  compelled 
to  work  out  its  destiny,  be  the  result  good  or  bad, 
just  or  unjust,  progress  or  stagnation.  We  may  cry 
“hands  off,”  even  though  we  at  times  hurt  our- 
selves as  much  as  others  by  allowing  a band  of  un- 
scrupulous dictators  to  find  shelter  beneath  our 
nullifying  protection. 

3.  We  may  proclaim  ourselves  masters  of  the 
western  world,  and  thereby  plunge  still  deeper  into 
the  current  of  international  politics.  We  must  then 
say  to  Europe,  “No,  American  soil  is  sacred  to 
America;  you  shall  have  no  influence  here.  The 
world  needs  these  new  lands,  it  needs  also  security 
for  its  expanding  peoples  and  industries,  but  we 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  331 


alone  will  control;  it  is  manifest  destiny.  Develop- 
ment shall  be  in  our  hands  and  the  markets  must 
adjust  themselves  accordingly.” 

But  before  the  analysis  is  carried  further  and  the 
fourth  case  is  stated,  it  will  be  best  to  consider 
whether  in  Europe  and  the  United  States  there 
have  taken  place  any  changes  which  may  or  should 
modify  our  attitude  toward  the  concept  of  the  prin- 
ciple, to  give  it  a practical  value  without  changing 
what  has  been  so  long  cherished  by  us  as  to  have 
become  a holy  sentiment. 

American  peoples  are  all  sentimental.  History 
has  nourished  our  earliest  ambitions  to  live,  to 
grow,  to  develop  and  to  prosper  on  government  by 
principle  and  by  morality.  During  the  Civil  War 
we  fought  among  ourselves  for  a sentiment.  We 
have  offered  to  fight  for  a sentiment  when  we 
thought  that  England  was  abusing  Venezuela;  we 
actually  fought  for  a sentiment  when  we  knew  that 
Spain  was  abusing  Cuba ; and  in  the  future  we  shall 
be  ready  to  fight  for  a sentiment  if  we  think  that 
it  conforms  to  our  ideas  of  material  and  spiritual 
progress.  This  sentimentalism  of  the  people  must 
not  be  gainsaid;  to  be  sure,  we  have  lately  been  ac- 
cusing ourselves  of  rampant  commercialism,  and 
we  have  confessed  that  our  desire  for  material  de- 
velopment has  led  us  into  immoralities  which  have 
debauched  both  business  and  society,  until  we  are 
criticized  as  having  lost  the  American  ideal  of 
democracy.  But  the  mass  of  the  people  remains 


332  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


honest  and  sentimental.  Our  Latin  neighbors  also 
are  sentimental,  but  their  sentiment  finds  easier  ex- 
pression in  poetry  and  art.  Nevertheless,  they,  too, 
have  deep  within  them  the  love  of  liberty  and  dem- 
ocracy which  has  grown  in  a century  of  struggle, 
although  their  freedom  may  often  mean  irrespon- 
sibility, and  their  liberty  be  distorted  into  lawless- 
ness. 

We,  on  the  one  side,  derived  our  ideas  of  inde- 
pendence and  liberty  from  English  (and  Dutch) 
sources  and  we  had  behind  us  as  an  inheritance, 
even  from  the  Magna  Charta,  experiences  in  con- 
stitutional governments.  When  we  adopted  the  fin- 
ished scheme  of  our  own  government,  we  showed 
that  we  had  to  some  extent  yielded  to  the  influence 
of  the  Latin  whose  philosophers  and  theorists  from 
time  to  time  expounded  plans  by  which  human  na- 
ture and  human  societies  could  be  regulated  by  de- 
ductive methods,  although  our  conduct  has  ever 
since  shown  plainly  enough  that  we  obtain  the  best 
results  by  reasoning  inductively.  Whatever  ad- 
vances we  make  are  happily  the  outcome  of  both 
experience  and  theory. 

The  South  American  republics,  on  the  other 
side,  have  been,  from  their  earliest  struggles,  al- 
most altogether  under  the  sway  of  the  Romance 
philosophers.  Tiradentes  (Xavier)  in  Brazil,  who 
became  the  first  martyr  to  independence,  was  com- 
pletely of  the  French  school ; Bolivar  in  Venezuela, 
great  admirer  of  the  United  States  as  he  was, 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  333 


showed  himself  an  inspired  patriot  who  dreamed 
that  the  only  necessary  step  was  to  launch  a repub- 
lic with  a constitution,  and  that  the  human  factors 
in  the  country  would,  with  but  little  friction,  mold 
themselves  into  the  form  of  a democracy.  All 
South  America’s  escape  from  the  clutch  of  Spain 
was  accomplished  by  men  fired  with  the  enthusi- 
asm for  a Utopia.  In  later  years  the  analogy  can 
be  worked  out;  Latin  America  has  not  yet  ceased 
to  be  the  home  of  some  of  the  most  beautiful  the- 
ories upon  earth,  while  at  the  same  time  she  shows 
many  laughable  instances  of  government  perverted 
into  a system  for  the  personal  aggrandizement  of 
one  man,  who  found  it  necessary  to  become  a dic- 
tator, either  to  carry  out  his  own  selfish  schemes, 
or  to  compel  the  people  to  act  with  him,  sometimes 
contrary  to  the  constitution,  if  their  own  interests 
were  to  be  best  preserved.  This  explains  the  ex- 
tremes of  military  rule  and  of  revolution.  Dicta- 
torship may  lead  to  noticeable  industrial  and  even 
intellectual  advance,  as  was  the  case  in  Venezuela 
under  Guzman  Blanco,  or  in  Argentina  under  Sar- 
miento,  who  tried  nobly  to  govern  within  constitu- 
tional limits ; or  it  may  retard  and  paralyze  a whole 
nation,  as  the  instances  of  Lopez  in  Paraguay  and 
Oribe  in  Uruguay  prove.  They  all  have  times  of 
prosperity  and  times  of  decline;  periods  when  the 
country  is  guided  by  a sincere  leader  whose  ambi- 
tions are  to  foster  popular  self-government,  so  that 
his  successor  may  carry  on  the  administration  un- 


334  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


der  true  constitutional  forms;  and  periods  of  stag- 
nation during  which  everything  is  made  to  yield  to 
the  selfishness  of  a clique  and  a cabal.  Through  it 
all  has  been  preserved  an  intense  feeling  for  ab- 
stract and  indefinable  liberty. 

We  on  our  side  have  found  out,  often  by  bitter 
experience,  that  liberty  is  describable  only  in  terms 
of  obedience  to  law.  If  we  do  not  like  the  law, 
however  much  we  may  individually  disobey  it,  we 
believe  that  a law  must  finally  be  established  to 
right  our  evils  and  that  law  must  prevail.  We  have 
thrown  off  completely  and  for  ever  the  doctrine  of 
hereditary  privilege,  and  have  yet  much  to  learn 
concerning  the  principles  of  self-government,  but 
we  test  everything  according  to  law. 

The  South  Americans,  on  their  side,  have  not 
always  delimited  their  ideas  of  democracy  by  con- 
cepts of  law.  They,  equally  with  us,  have  repudi- 
ated the  divine  right  of  kings  and  an  hereditarily 
privileged  class,  but  liberty  with  them  is  often  an 
intangible  emotion  translatable  only  in  terms  of 
personal  ambition,  or  of  poetry  figuring  what 
might  be  or  should  be.  Thus  there  is  not  one  South 
American  republic  which  has  not  changed  its  con- 
stitution time  and  again  to  meet  some  fancied  con- 
dition, though  the  new  government  ran  no  smoother 
because  of  it;  and  there  is  not  one  country  in  South 
America  which  has  not  indulged  in  revolutions, 
because  it  could  not  wait  for  a slower  process  when 
the  law  was  being  violated.  Their  revolutions  are 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  335 


always  induced  by  one  of  two  motives:  a coup 
d’etat  at  the  hands  of  one  embryo  dictator  who 
wishes  to  dislodge  another  already  in  power,  or  a 
protest  led  by  an  ambitious  patriot  who  hopes  by 
this  means  to  destroy  wrongs  visited  upon  a suffer- 
ing people;  and  the  people  follow  blindly  one 
leader  or  another,  because  they  are  not  educated 
enough  to  perceive,  as  we  Anglo-Saxons  do,  the 
dangers  of  overturning  one  wrong  by  a second. 
The  lower  class  can  not  judge  for  itself,  and,  re- 
acting enthusiastically  to  the  voice  of  the  orator, 
it  is  satisfied  with  the  show  of  personal  liberty. 

To  enjoy  the  vast  plains  or  mysterious  mountains, 
to  go  his  own  way  untrammeled  by  discipline  or 
rules,  to  fret  about  nothing  beyond  the  cattle  and 
the  harvest,  to  partake  thankfully  of  what  bounti- 
ful nature  gives,  and  to  work  no  more  than  to  pro- 
duce one  blade  of  grass,  to  recognize  no  authority, 
to  live  without  responsibility — that  has  been  the 
South  American  idea  of  freedom.  The  United 
States  has  left  behind  this  phase  of  social  life,  al- 
though remnants  of  it  still  are  evident,  but  in  some 
South  American  republics  no  other  idea  prevailed. 
In  others,  especially  in  Argentina  and  Brazil,  they 
have  awakened,  and  are  slowly  trying  to  harmon- 
ize their  conduct  with  their  industrial  projects  and 
conditions.  Therefore  the  desire  for  stable  self- 
government,  for  democracy,  is  as  vital  for  them  as 
it  is  for  us,  however  differently  it  may  show  itself. 

Now  certain  modifying  and  unforeseen  forces 


336  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


have  noticeably  changed  the  world’s  outlook  since 
1823,  and  neither  North  nor  South  America  has 
quite  acknowledged  them.  No  longer  is  an  abstract 
pursuit  of  liberty  the  fundamental  function  of  gov- 
ernment; an  intellectual  theory  on  which  to  base 
a social  organization  must  give  way  before  the 
more  substantial  demands  of  material  civilization. 
In  1823  England  had  a population  of  22,000,000, 
Germany  of  12,000,000  and  France  of  27,000,000, 
while  the  United  States  could  hardly  reckon  12,- 
000,000.  The  Louisiana  purchase  had  been  made 
only  in  1803,  and  Florida  became  ours  in  1819; 
Texas  had  not  been  thought  of,  and  the  West  was  a 
dream.  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Kentucky  were  infants 
not  so  well-developed  as  Oregon  in  1875.  Eu- 
ropean neighbors  were  close  at  hand,  and  therefore 
one  great,  if  not  the  only  purpose  of  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  was  to  protect  ourselves. 

Until  1850  it  was  well  enough  for  America  to  in- 
dulge in  experiments  with  self-government,  un- 
affected by  European  influences.  Republics  grew 
and  expanded  as  they  pleased  until  the  era  of  colo- 
nization was  reached.  State-encouraged  colonies 
brought  new  questions  into  play,  and  what  was 
once  a mere  desire  for  colonization,  has  now  be- 
come a necessity,  because  England  has  a population 
of  42,000,000,  Germany  of  60,000,000  and  France 
of  38,000,000. 

In  Europe  colonization  was  at  first  only  a means 
to  subdue  strange  countries  to  a condition  of  vas- 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  337 


salage,  whence  a new  income  could  be  derived  with 
which  to  enrich  the  home  country.  India  and 
China  in  the  old  world,  Mexico  and  Peru  in  the 
new,  represent  these  earlier  ambitions.  As  explora- 
tions were  made  in  North  America  and  Australia, 
there  began  the  more  modern  idea  of  colonization 
for  settlement.  To-day  we  have  the  latest  motive 
of  all,  the  use  of  colonial  territory  for  commercial 
and  industrial  expansion.  At  one  time  a country’s 
product  was  consumed  within  its  own  borders,  but 
nowadays,  however  poorly  distributed  according 
to  some  economists  these  products  may  be,  no  one 
nation  produces  all  that  it  consumes,  or  consumes 
all  that  it  produces.  Years  ago,  too,  the  soil  within 
any  country  gave  ample  employment  to  its  citizens, 
but  to-day,  owing  to  the  cessation  of  military 
slaughter  as  well  as  to  the  benign  influences  of  the 
medical  sciences,  human  beings  have  multiplied 
so  fast  that  Europe,  despite  the  improvements  in 
agriculture  and  manufacturing,  is  hungry  and  her 
overcrowded  population  must  spread  out  upon  the 
untilled  places  of  the  earth.  We  of  the  United 
States  are  not  yet  land  poor,  but  we  have  nearly  ex- 
hausted our  free  lands;  we  are  ambitious  for  in- 
dustrial success,  and  we  are  eager  to  expand  our 
commerce.  We  have  no  colonies  in  the  South 
American  sense  of  the  word,  for  all  emigrants  to 
our  shores  enter  as  willing  settlers  looking  for 
homes.  In  South  America  the  nation  or  the  state 
has  expended  immense  sums  in  bringing  over  Eu- 


338  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


ropean  peasants  to  till  the  soil  and  to  work  in  their 
industries,  so  that,  by  the  act,  they  have  morally 
and  legally  obligated  themselves  to  care  for  these 
new-comers  until  they  learn  to  be  citizens.  These 
colonists  are  not  so  rapidly  absorbed  into  the  body 
politic  as  with  us  but  remain  a long  time  trans- 
planted Europeans  in  republican  America. 

Contemporaneously  with  this  mode  of  growth 
began  a material  expansion  throughout  the  world, 
in  the  construction  of  railways,  telegraphs,  and 
national  or  civic  improvements.  The  South 
American  is  no  longer  an  agriculturist  content 
to  consume  only  what  he  produces,  and  satisfied 
with  his  herds,  his  fields  and  his  wagon  roads;  he 
is  compelled  to  advance  with  his  age;  he  de- 
mands modern  means  of  communication  and 
transport,  modern  architecture  and  modern  educa- 
tion. These  have  brought  him  into  closer  intimacy 
with  the  outer  world,  which  means  Europe  and  not 
the  United  States,  and  in  acquiring  what  he  sought 
he  assumes  responsibilities  which  were  far  from  his 
dreams  of  liberty  when,  a generation  before,  inde- 
pendence from  Europe  had  been  declared.  Gov- 
ernment bonds  are  sold  to  European  capitalists; 
railways  are  built  by  European  money,  industrial 
stocks  are  solemnly  guaranteed  by  the  nation  in 
order  to  raise  money  to  be  expended  under  state 
supervision,  while  the  colonies,  in  addition  to  the 
fact  that  they,  as  institutions,  receive  state  aid,  are 
officially  promised  the  peace  which  is  their  due, 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  339 


and  are  offered  encouragement  to  develop,  practi- 
cally unhampered  by  the  internal  quarrels  of  the 
native-born,  so  long  as  they  do  not  care  to  partake 
of  suffrage  and  citizenship. 

It  is  therefore  a very  pertinent  question:  If  a 
nation  acknowledges  certain  responsibilities  in  re- 
gard to  the  citizens  of  another  nation,  why  has  not 
that  other  nation  a perfectly  proper  right  to  de- 
mand that  these  obligations  be  carried  out?  While 
it  is  well  known  that  Palmerston  decided  that  Eng- 
land was  not  to  be  used  by  bond-holders  as  an  offi- 
cial debt-collecting  agency,  he  but  spoke  a policy 
of  expediency,  not  a doctrine,  because  he  wished 
the  money  to  be  spent  at  home;  and  Great  Britain 
has  never  officially  declared  even  in  Turkey  that 
she  would  not  collect  her  subjects’  lawful  debts.  In 
fact,  she  has  on  occasion  openly  insisted  that  justice 
compelled  her  to  protect  by  every  means  this 
branch  of  her  commerce.  Such  was  the  case  in  the 
recent  Venezuela  episode,  and  the  United  States 
refused  to  consider  the  blockade  of  the  Venezuelan 
ports  an  infringement  upon  our  theoretic  rights  in 
the  western  hemisphere.  To  come  closer  home  in 
all  senses  of  the  word,  we  ourselves  have  felt  it  our 
duty  to  protect  interests  of  the  United  States  in 
Cuba,  and  our  ultimate  reason  for  so  doing  was  not 
to  restore  order  or  to  teach  Cubans  how  to  govern 
themselves,  but  to  secure  an  unmolested  usufruct 
for  our  capital  invested  there.  Imaginative  altru- 
ism can  not  go  so  far  as  to  claim  that  intervention 


340  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


in  Cuba  had  as  its  purpose  the  protection  of  British 
capital.  Material  prosperity  and  an  unrioted  gov- 
ernment go  nowadays  hand  in  hand — the  harmoni- 
ous conjunction  of  the  two  is  the  raison  d’etre  of 
the  State.  Therefore,  with  the  international  respon- 
sibilities which  Latin  America  assumes,  until  she 
has  learned  to  escape  revolution  and  to  foster  in- 
dustry, the  increasing  interests  of  the  older  and 
more  stable  nations  demand  that  watch  be  kept 
over  her. 

But  as  yet  it  has  not  been  well  decided  how  the 
weaker  republics  south  of  us  can  best  preserve  their 
autonomy,  and  at  the  same  time  encourage  the 
world’s  increasing  hordes  to  fructify  their  fertile 
spaces.  The  big  stick  has  played  its  part,  and 
largely  through  our  assertion  of  the  traditional 
Monroe  Doctrine  have  America  and  democracy 
become  synonymous  terms;  yet  too  continuously 
have  we  given  it  solely  an  individual  interpreta- 
tion, and  too  infrequently  taken  into  consideration 
the  changing  purposes  of  the  world,  the  democrati- 
zation of  all  peoples,  the  growing  need  for  land, 
and  above  all  the  opinions  and  feelings  of  the  very 
nations  we  assume  to  protect. 

South  American  opinions  are  not  altogether  fa- 
vorable to  any  interpretation  we  have  recently 
tried  to  give  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  either  through 
the  lips  of  orators  on  the  stump  or  in  Congress. 
Until  he  travels  in  South  America  a resident  of 
the  United  States  can  not  realize  how  general  and 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  341 


how  persistent  is  the  discussion  of  our  relation  to 
the  rest  of  the  world  through  that  Doctrine.  In 
Venezuela,  where  freedom  of  speech  is  dangerous, 
one  can  hear  mention  of  it  only  in  confidential 
conversations,  and  in  Uruguay,  where  political  con- 
ditions are  such  that  they  must  consider  it  in  refer- 
ence to  Argentina  and  Brazil  as  well  as  to  Europe 
and  the  United  States,  their  opinion  is  colored  by 
that  of  their  close  neighbors ; but  in  Brazil  and  Ar- 
gentina, freedom  of  expression  is  unrestricted  and 
the  subject  is  as  much  a topic  of  the  dinner-table 
and  the  promenade  as  is  the  weather  or  the  prices 
on  the  stock  exchange;  and  the  newspapers  fre- 
quently give  it  prominence.  If  one  found  mention 
of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  only  in  newspapers  reflect- 
ing English  or  German  thought  (there  is  no  news- 
paper devoted  to  “Yankee  interests”)  there  might 
be  reason  to  believe  that  a propaganda  was  actu- 
ated by  the  secret  service  of  these  nations,  but  the 
fact  is  that  the  more  usual  place  for  the  head-line 
“Monroe  Doctrine”  is  in  those  papers  edited  and 
published  by  native  journalists  who  try  to  record 
rather  than  to  lead  public  sentiment.  The  sneering 
assertion  that  such  papers  are  venal  and  are  re- 
printing opinions  supplied  them  by  European  dip- 
lomats, is,  to  my  mind,  entirely  unsupported  by 
proof.  Their  sentiments  are  genuine  and  reflect  the 
editorial  mind.  Hardly  a day  passes  but  that,  in 
La  Prensa  and  La  Nacion  of  Buenos  Aires,  in  the 
Jornal  do  Commercio,  Jornal  do  Brazil,  LI  Dia, 


342  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  are  found  attempts  to  analyze  the 
latest  meaning  given  by  the  United  States  to  its  one 
external  policy.  The  terms  used  are  not  flattering: 
“vassalage,”  “suzerainty,”  “selfish  protection,” 
“commercial  exploitation”;  these  are  regularly 
employed;  they  resent  our  dictatorial  attitude;  a 
few  recognize  the  debt  they  owe  us,  but  the  major- 
ity assert  that  their  gratitude  can  not  be  retained  by 
the  obtrusive  and  condescending  iteration  of  our 
greatness  and  our  progress.  The  essence  of  their 
criticism  is  expressed  in  the  statement  that  we  are 
only  more  powerful  than  they,  that  while  in  edu- 
cation, in  material  results,  in  the  art  of  production, 
we  have  outstripped  them  (confessedly  because  we 
are  of  Anglo-Saxon  they  of  Latin  origin)  they,  in 
morals,  in  home  life,  in  grasp  of  the  great  problems 
which  are  now  uppermost,  are  no  whit  our  in- 
feriors. They  claim,  too,  that  the  differences  are 
only  in  details,  that  their  struggles  are  in  a large 
sense  the  same  as  ours,  and  that  they  are  giving  as 
conscientious  effort  to  elevate  themselves  as  we  are. 
It  is  our  help  they  need,  not  our  advice;  trade  they 
will  always  encourage,  but  until  they  can  find  in  us 
examples  superior  to  what  they  can  find  in  Europe, 
they  wish  to  use  their  own  volition  in  advancing  as 
their  natural  and  racial  conditions  may  suggest. 
The  big  stick  should  be  used  for  a different  pur- 
pose than  to  whip  them  into  a path  they  do  not 
wish  to  follow. 

Such  being  the  case,  it  is  only  just  and  right  that 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  343 


we  do  help  them,  but  we  must  learn  how.  Those 
who  think  that  by  lecturing  them,  by  trying  to  dic- 
tate to  them,  by  constantly  asserting  our  superiority 
while  failing  to  set  a good  example,  we  do  them 
service,  make  a great  mistake.  South  Americans 
like  and  admire  us,  but  they  like  and  admire  other 
countries  as  well,  and  the  gospel  of  liberty  is  as 
sacred  to  them  as  it  is  to  us.  We  can  best  prove  our 
helpfulness  by  reestablishing  an  ideal  of  true  de- 
mocracy, by  investing  money  in  their  abundant  en- 
terprises, by  sending  our  capital  and  our  brains, 
not  to  exploit  them,  but  to  partake  of  the  bounties 
which  nature  and  man  offer  there.  Any  one  ac- 
quainted with  South  America  knows  that  the  re- 
sources are  boundless,  that  railroads,  industries 
and  farms  will  return  proper  dividends  there  as 
well  as  here,  if  once  they  are  conducted  with  peace. 
The  theory  of  unrestrained  liberty  is  as  dead  there 
as  it  is  here,  but  sentiment  is  by  no  means  dead.  On 
both  sides  we  have  learned  that  a greater  boon  than 
“freedom”  in  the  abstract  is  honest  material  suc- 
cess, for  thereby  are  secured  the  blessings  of  food 
and  home  to  countless  thousands  now  deprived  of 
them.  Material  progress  with  equal  opportunity 
and  fair  distribution  to  all,  should  be  the  interpre- 
tation of  twentieth  century  liberty.  The  whole 
world  is  becoming  industrial,  and  we  must  there- 
fore stimulate  an  industrial  productiveness  instead 
of  a struggle  for  theoretic  and  abstract  rights. 

1 think  that  no  citizen  of  the  United  States  ac- 


344  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


quainted  with  South  America  seriously  wishes  that 
any  of  that  soil  should  actually  belong  to  the 
United  States,  or  thinks  that  we  could  govern  the 
Latin  as  well  as  he  can  govern  himself.  I have 
never  met  one  who  did  not  confess  that  we  should 
be  better  without  the  Philippines,  or  who  did  not 
proclaim  that  we  had  within  our  own  borders 
weighty  difficulties  of  our  own,  and  that  outside 
of  these  borders,  Cuba,  Santo  Domingo  and  Pana- 
ma would  tax  our  extra-territorial  governing  ca- 
pacity for  generations  to  come.  On  the  other 
hand,  I have  met  no  man — Yankee  or  not — who 
did  not  think  that  a policy  of  friendliness,  neigh- 
borliness and  watchfulness,  was  the  only  one  to 
pursue.  This  means  to  encourage  migration  from 
Europe  to  South  America,  to  applaud  those  re- 
publics who  have  been  able  to  attract  to  their 
shores  the  working  forces  of  the  world,  to  ask  but 
not  to  demand  our  fair  share  of  the  profits,  to  con- 
tinue in  our  path  of  unassisted  immigration  while 
not  interfering  with  the  bounties  and  guaranties 
offered  by  them  to  capital  and  labor.  To  help  them 
develop  as  best  suits  them,  and  to  develop  ourselves 
as  may  be  best  for  us,  is  a creed  that  will  be  wel- 
comed from  Hudson  Bay  to  Tierra  del  Fuego. 

The  whole  question,  with  the  intricate  factors  at 
work  in  North  and  in  South  America,  and  exam- 
ined since  the  change  in  conditions  from  those  of 
1823,  can  be  summarized  as  follows: 

The  Holy  Alliance  has  ceased  to  exist.  The 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  345 


principle  that  provoked  it — the  desire  to  enforce 
the  divine  right  of  kings  and  the  assertion  that  Eu- 
ropean monarchs  had  an  inalienable  claim  to  the 
soil  of  America — is  for  ever  dead. 

The  United  States  has  become  a world  power 
and  is  so  recognized  by  Europe;  our  growth  has 
been  achieved  altogether  by  voluntary  migration; 
those  who  came  to  us  forsook  the  Old  World  to 
become  residents  of  the  New,  because  here  they 
would  find  a republican  form  of  government 
where  they  and  their  children  might  become  citi- 
zens if  they  wished.  In  South  America  thousands 
of  the  colonists  were  brought  over  by  the  state, 
their  passage  paid,  land  and  implements  given 
them  with  the  nation’s  solemn  assurance  that  they 
should  be  protected;  they  might  become  citizens, 
their  children  must  become  so. 

While  the  industrial  growth  and  financial  credit 
of  this  country  has  been  unaided  and  unhampered 
by  the  national  government,  our  national  bonds  are 
at  a premium  the  world  over  and  our  state  bonds, 
held  largely  within  our  own  borders,  have,  with 
only  few  exceptions,  been  promptly  paid;  our  in- 
dustrial stocks  and  bonds  are  supported  in  the  mar- 
ket by  private  capital,  the  only  aid  given  by  the  na- 
tion or  state  within  the  last  generation  being  in  the 
form  of  land.  We  do  not  to-day  recognize  such  a 
financial  transaction  as  a state  or  national  annual 
subsidy  to  corporate  stock,  or  a concession  convey- 
ing money  payment  or  carrying  special  privileges. 


346  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


In  South  America,  since  1850,  immense  sums  of 
government  bonds  have  been  sold  abroad  under  na- 
tional promise,  made  by  diplomatic  agents,  that  the 
interest  would  be  paid;  other  immense  sums,  also 
with  government  guaranty,  have  been  borrowed 
abroad  and  expended  at  home  on  railways  and  pub- 
lic improvements;  other  sums,  for  a different  class 
of  railways  and  for  quasi  public  industrial  enter- 
prises, have  been  expended  within  the  country  and 
the  bonds  and  stock  guaranteed  by  the  state  or  na- 
tion, or  the  company  was  so  subsidized  that  the  na- 
tion made  itself  responsible.  Thus  the  latter  half  of 
the  nineteenth  century  has  seen  South  America, 
even  while  perpetuating  the  republican  idea,  grad- 
ually influenced  by  state-aided  colonists,  by  Euro- 
pean methods,  and  inclined  toward  a collective 
rather  than  an  individualistic  method  of  develop- 
ment. Europe  has  these  immense  sums  of  money  at 
stake  there,  great  numbers  of  people  domiciled 
there,  and  Europe  controls  all  the  trade  except 
some  lines  of  machinery  and  manufactured  goods 
which  we  possess,  or  in  some  natural  products  of 
the  earth  which  will  gradually  be  lost  as  the  pro- 
ductive area  enlarges. 

The  United  States,  while  by  no  means  over- 
crowded, is  still  filling  rapidly;  our  land  is  reason- 
ably well  occupied,  so  that  instead  of  welcoming 
migration  we  yearly  make  stricter  laws  against  it, 
and  we  have  within  our  own  confines  problems  »f 
civilization  which  demand  the  most  far-sighted 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  347 


statesmanship.  Europe  is  overcrowded  and  her 
discontented  millions  must  go  elsewhere,  while 
South  America  has  millions  of  acres  of  unoccupied 
land  which  she  begs  may  be  occupied  and  made 
to  add  to  the  food-supply  of  mankind.  Slowly  but 
surely  must  South  America  open  to  the  material 
and  industrial  demands  of  the  world. 

One  more  feature  is  the  greatest  of  all.  Europe 
— England,  Germany,  France,  Italy  and  Spain — 
have  their  commercial  rights  which  must  undenia- 
bly be  recognized;  but  some  of  them  have  equally 
undeniable  ambitions  to  subvert  the  democratic 
idea,  and  they  would  go  so  far  as  to  combine  their 
commercial  rights  with  their  monarchical  ambi- 
tions by  laying  hold  of  land,  which  then  would 
become  territories  of  Europe  snatched  from  South 
American  nations;  over  this  land  they  would  fly 
the  flag  of  an  hereditary  king,  and  the  residents 
therein  would  be  subjects,  not  citizens.  Thereby 
would  be  destroyed  the  sentiment  of  American  soil 
for  the  democratic  ideal.  We  can  put  no  trust  in 
the  avowals  of  Europe;  we  must  continue  to  be- 
lieve that  the  hope  of  territorial  aggrandizement 
is  as  firm  as  ever. 

All  this  has  been  explanatory  of  the  interpreta- 
tion we  should  give  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  We 
can  not  longer  maintain  our  oracular  attitude  to- 
ward Europe,  nor  should  we  longer  irritate  and 
confuse  South  America.  We  must  have  a more 
definite  policy  than  that  toward  Cuba  or  even 


34§  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


toward  the  Philippines.  The  part  we  are  playing 
now  is  as  much  a dog-in-the-manger  as  was  that 
played  by  the  English  and  Spanish  on  our  western 
frontier  in  1790;  if  we  do  not  abandon  it  we  shall, 
before  the  next  fifty  years  have  passed,  be  defied 
and  mocked,  as  we  mocked  and  defied  these  na- 
tions in  1800.  Instead  of  restraining  the  natural 
currents  of  human  activity,  we  should  encourage 
the  South  American  desire  for  colonization  and 
the  European  attempt  to  satisfy  it.  We  do  not 
need  any  sphere  of  influence  beyond  the  equator, 
nor  do  the  republics  there  wish  to  lean  upon  us; 
they  are  free  and  independent.  Argentina  will 
soon  emerge  from  obscurity  as  Japan  did,  and  be 
able  to  adjust  her  score  with  England  as  may  seem 
best  to  both  of  them.  Brazil  is  still  in  the  throes  of 
creation,  but  the  result  will  be  a giant  when  her 
latent  possibilities  are  uncovered.  Venezuela 
brings  us  nearer  home,  and  here,  by  a firmer  moral 
suasion  than  we  have  hitherto  exercised  toward 
Cuba  and  Santo  Domingo,  and  by  demanding  that 
she  observe  the  obligation  to  obey  the  human  law 
of  expansion,  she  must  be  made  to  obey  her  own 
laws  for  the  protection  of  citizens  and  aliens  alike 
in  their  industrial  aspirations. 

This  is  the  crux  of  the  problem.  Instead  of  join- 
ing hands  with  those  who  wish  to  announce  a pol- 
icy of  irresponsibility,  we  should  insist  that  we  are 
in  sympathy  with  those  who  pay  their  debts  and 
who  have  the  right  to  demand  that  debts  due  them 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  349 


must  be  paid,  although  land  must  not  be  taken  in 
payment.  We  can  not  be  confined  by  an  alliance; 
this  is  beyond  our  traditions  or  our  interests,  hence 
it  would  be  folly  to  give  our  adherence  either  to  a 
compact  with  Europe  to  compel  South  America  to 
pay  her  obligations,  or  to  that  un-American  propo- 
sition embodied  in  the  so-called  Drago  or  Calvo 
doctrine.  Any  agreement  referring  to  such  mat- 
ters may  well  be  left  to  liberal  interpretation  by  a 
body  like  the  Hague  Congress,  where  the  United 
States  can  stand  up  for  justice,  which,  let  us  hope, 
will  always  be  American. 

But  we  have  looked  backward  too  much;  we 
should  now  look  forward,  into  the  future,  for  the 
world  is  beginning  a new  era.  Any  one  of  the  three 
interpretations  already  given  to  our  great  external 
policy,  can,  after  all,  be  applied  only  to  a particu- 
lar case.  What  we  need  and  what  civilization  has 
a right  to  expect  is  a clear  statement  of  our  pur- 
pose. This  purpose,  if  I understand  the  feelings  of 
my  fellow-citizens,  and  if  I have  fathomed  the  sen- 
timent of  South  Americans,  is  to  keep  hands  off,  to 
let  each  republic  work  out  its  own  destiny  while  it 
recognizes  and  lives  up  to  moral  and  financial  ob- 
ligations; this  purpose  also  is  not  to  interfere  in 
international  quarrels,  but  to  be  prepared  to  offer 
help  and  encouragement  to  the  weak  in  case  of  un- 
licensed aggression  by  the  strong. 

This  is  what  Mr.  Root  said  in  his  conciliatory 
journey  through  South  America,  yet  not  even  the 


350  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


word  of  such  a statesman  will  accomplish  what  the 
patriotic  citizens  of  those  countries  expect.  We 
must  look  ahead  for  fifty  years.  We  must  not 
mince  matters  or  be  afraid  of  our  responsible  and 
unavoidable  destiny.  Argentina  and  Uruguay  are 
free;  let  them  develop  as  they  may;  fresh  Euro- 
pean blood  will  help  them  and  they  will  remain 
republics  on  a pattern  best  suited  to  themselves. 
Brazil  needs  from  Europe,  and  also  from  us, 
assistance  which  she  is  slowly  obtaining.  Our  atti- 
tude must  be  one  of  friendly  neutrality  south  of  the 
equator,  assuring  them  that  their  autonomy  will 
be  preserved.  But  in  the  case  of  Venezuela  a 
more  active  position  must  be  adopted.  We  can  not 
escape.  The  future  means  that  if  we  avoid  our 
responsibility,  Europe  will  sooner  or  later  demand 
that  that  beautiful  but  turbulent  country  be  opened 
to  safe  colonization  and  secured  for  the  uses  of  in- 
dustrial progress.  We  had  better  be  in  sympathy 
with  the  wholesome  ambitions  of  Europe  than  to 
assist  in  perpetuating  an  effete  and  unproductive 
civilization,  however  poetic  it  may  be.  We  must 
say  to  Venezuela,  if  you  do  not  open  your  doors, 
obey  your  own  laws  and  yield  to  the  higher  de- 
mands of  society,  we  shall  compel  you  to  do  so. 

South  America  wants  something  definite  and 
unmistakable,  so  that  if  we  act  contrary  to  what 
we  propose,  they  can  accuse  us  of  bad  faith  and 
have  reason  on  their  side  when  they  do  so.  Any- 
thing is  better  than  blowing  hot  with  one  president 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  351 


and  cold  with  another.  Therefore,  the  only 
straightforward  course  is  some  action  by  Congress 
which  formally  adopts  an  interpretation  for  the 
future. 

4.  We  must  define  the  Monroe  Doctrine  in  pre- 
cise and  unequivocal  terms  which  will  apply  to 
future  activities  in  the  western  hemisphere,  in 
something  like  the  following  language: 

“We  disclaim  any  intention  to  seize  or  to  govern 
any  part  of  the  South  American  continent.  But 
international  relations  are  much  closer  than  they 
were  eighty  years  ago,  and  to-day  it  is  our  duty  to 
encourage  the  use  for  productive  purposes  of  all 
land  not  yet  brought  into  cultivation.  As  a nation 
we  can  not  enter  into  any  alliance  which  will  array 
America  against  Europe,  nor  can  we,  therefore, 
give  adherence  to  a principle  which  would  encour- 
age the  extension  of  international  debts,  nor  irre- 
sponsible neglect  of  those  already  incurred.  As  to 
the  collection  of  debts,  we  shall  make  every  effort 
to  promote  their  adjustment  by  an  international 
claims  commission,  although  we  can  not  interfere 
if  a creditor  nation  shall,  for  the  good  of  the  world, 
use  force  in  compelling  a debtor  nation  to  pay  its 
lawful  obligations. 

“But  the  privilege  of  working  out  a democratic 
destiny  must  be  considered  inalienable  from  Amer- 
ican soil,  and,  to  preserve  this  privilege,  we  assert 
the  right  to  prevent,  by  all  the  means  at  our  com- 
mand, in  any  case  of  the  weak  against  the  strong, 


352  THE  SOUTH  AMERICANS 


any  unauthorized  attack  upon  any  American  na- 
tion, which  has  for  its  object  and  is  accompanied 
by  the  elevation  of  a foreign  flag.” 

If  we  have  the  courage  thus  formally  to  express 
our  sentiment,  retaining  the  significance  given  it 
by  the  originators  but  restated  by  the  nation,  not 
by  any  individual,  the  Monroe  Doctrine  will  then 
become  the  political  romance  of  the  twentieth 
century. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Aconcagua,  88 
Aguirre,  157 
Alfandega,  26,  28,  31 
Alvear,  101 

Amateur  Photographic  Club,  57 
Amazon,  2,  14,  72,  80,  83,  88, 
182,  186,  197,  219,  244,  294, 
306 

Amazonas,  206,  207 
American  Line,  81 
American  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  and  Seminary,  46 
American  Steamers,  58 
Andean  Cordilleras,  245 
Andes,  11,  79,  80,  83,  84,  85,  88, 
90,  97,  106,  140,  186,  246,  251, 
290,  314,  320 
Andrada,  192 
Andrade,  259 
Antimano,  67 
Antofagasta,  78 
Aragua  River,  246 
Arequipa,  75,  76 
Argentina,  Traveling  in,  53-58, 
Statistics,  86,  Georgraphy, 
87-95.  History,  96-111,  Gov- 
ernment, 112-128,  People  and 
Present  Conditions,  129-147 
Argentine  Corrientes,  149 
Argentine  Mesopotamia,  97 
Arica,  77,  78 
Artigas,  154 
Avellaneda,  108 

Avenida  Central  (Rio),  28-30, 
33,  36,  38,  235 


Avenida  Mayo  (Buenos  Aires), 
54 

Ayacucho,  74 

Baedeker  de  la  Republica  Ar- 
gentina, 56 
Bage,  219 

Bahia,  15,  19-23,  81,  137,  186, 
189,  190,  206,  223,  225,  246, 
298 

Bahia  Blanca,  56,  58,  88, 92, 121, 
137,  293 

Banda  Oriental,  149,  154 
Baranquilla,  81 
Barcelona,  245,  249 
Baring  Brothers,  108 
Batlle,  158 

Bartoleme  Mitre,  105,  106 
Bay  of  All  Saints,  20 
Bay  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  24,  190 
Belgrano,  100 
Bellas  Artes  Academy,  65 
Bello  Horizonte,  219,  232 
Bermudez,  245 
Berro,  156,  157 
Bible  Society,  38,  296 
Blanco,  Guzman,  256-258,  271, 
302,  307,  333 

Blancos,  156-158,  160,  165,  166, 
171,  1 77,  196 
Blumenau,  46,  228 
Bogota,  69,  82,  225,  253,  281 
Bolivar,  4,  65,  74,  252,  253,  255, 
285,  303,  306,  332 


355 


35& 


INDEX 


Bolivar  (coin),  59,  61,  62 
Bolivar  Square,  65 
Bolivia,  11,  72,  75-78,  80,  220, 
290,  319,  329 
Boliviano,  76 
Bonds,  30 
Bond  Street,  56 
Booth  Steamers,  14,  80 
Borda,  159 

Botanical  Garden  (Rio),  30,  35 
Brazil,  Traveling  in,  16-47, 
Statistics,  180,  Geography, 
181-188,  History,  189-203, 

Government,  204-221,  People 
and  Present  Conditions,  222- 
241 

Brazilian  Review,  38 
Buenaventura,  69 
Buenos  Aires,  7,  15,  20,  29,  36, 
41,  46,  50-53,  55-58,  74,  76, 
79-84,  87,  89,  90,  92,  97-99, 
102-105,  107,  108,  1 14,  1 15, 
1 17,  120-122,  124-127,  131, 
134,  140,  142-144,  150,  152- 

154,  157,  168,  171,  179,  219, 

241,  292,  297,  298,  300,  302, 

303,  313,  315,  3i6,  318,  34i 
Buenos  Aires  (province),  89, 
100-102,  105,  115,  136 
Buenos  Aires  and  Pacific  Rail- 
way, 83 

Cajamarca,  72 
Caldera,  78 
Callao,  73-75 
Calle  Callao,  54 
Calle  Florida,  56 
Calle  Morena,  57 
Calvario  Hill,  65 
Candelaria  Church,  35 
Cape  Frio,  23,  24 
Cape  Horn,  78,  83 


Cape  San  Roque,  181,  183 
Caracas,  7,  59-61,  63-67,  79,  83, 

242,  243,  246,  248,  249,  252- 
254,  257-259,  264,  266-268, 
270,  272,  274,  279-281,  287, 
296,  298,  302 

Carioca  Square  (Rio),  34 
Cartagena,  81,  82 
Castro,  Cipriano,  259-262,  266, 
267,  274 

Castro,  General,  159 
Castro,  Julian,  255 
Cattete,  29,  39 
Centavo,  63,  65 
Centimo,  63 

Central  Railway  of  Brazil,  39, 
174,  208,  21 1 
Central  Station,  39 
Cervantes,  257 
Chagres  River,  68 
Chamberlain,  Reverend  George 
W„  42 

Checcacupe,  76 

Chile,  2,  11,  72,  73,  76,  77,  79. 80, 
83,  84,  88,  97,  1 14,  140,  147, 
165,  181,  246,  290,  319,  329 
Chimbote,  72 
Ciudad  Bolivar,  249,  300 
Colombia,  11,  69,  70,  80,  no, 

243,  252,  253,  290,  319,  329 
Colonia,  51,  150-152 
Colorados,  156-158,  165,  166, 

171,  177,  196 

Compania  Sud  Americana  de 
Vapores,  82 
Comte,  199 
Concepcion,  84 
Conde  d’Eu,  198 
Condor,  69,  70,  77 
Conservatives,  156,  158,  166 
Constant,  4,  199 
Coquimbo,  79 


INDEX 


357 


Corcovado,  29,  34 
Cordova,  56,  97,  99 
Coro,  245,  249 
Coronel,  83 
Corrientes,  89 
Crespo,  General,  258-260 
Cuestos,  159 

Cumana,  245,  249,  250,  277,  282 
Curasao,  58,  81,  259 
Curitiba,  46,  228 
Custom  - House  (Alfandega, 
Brazil),  26,  28,  31,  32;  (Uru- 
guay), 47;  (Argentina),  53; 
(Venezuela),  60,  61 
Cuzco,  76 

Desterro,  187 
Diamantina,  219 
Dom  Pedro  I,  192,  193 
Dom  Pedro  II,  193-195,  197,  200 
Dumont  Estate,  44 
Dun,  R.  G.,  and  Company,  57, 
318 

Duran,  71 

Ecuador,  ii,  70,  71,  80,  84,  192, 
252,  290,  319,  329 
El  Dia,  341 
El  Encantado,  67 
El  Encanto,  67 
Ellauri,  158 
English  Steamers,  14 
Entre  Rios,  89,  149 
Eten,  72 

Falcon,  General,  255 
Fazendas  in  Brazil,  44 
Federalists,  102-104 
Fifteenth-of-November  Square, 
26,  28 
Flores,  155 

Flores,  Venancio,  156,  157,  158 


Fray  Bentos,  51,  172 
French  Cable  Company,  260, 
261,  269 

French  Steamers,  15 
Frio,  Cape,  23,  24 

Garibaldi,  155,  229 
Gaul,  255 

German  Steamers,  14 
Gerro,  50 
Goyaz,  183,  232 

Great  Western  Railway  of 
Brazil,  19 
Guanta,  245,  258 
Guaqui,  76 
Guayaquil,  70,  71,  84 
Guayas  River,  71 
Guiana,  259 

Hamburg-American  Line,  82 
Harbor  Works  at  Rio,  36,  at 
Buenos  Aires,  120 
Harvard  Astronomical  Observ- 
atory, 76 
Herrera,  159 
Horn,  Cape,  78,  83,  84 
House  of  Congress  in  Caracas, 

65 

Huasco,  79 
Ica,  76 

Incas,  71,  76,  140 
Ipanema,  30 
Iquiqui,  78 
Iquitos,  80 
Islay  Bay,  75 
Itajahy,  46 

Jesuits,  3,  97,  98,  153,  190,  191 
Joinville,  228 

Jornal  do  Commercio,  38,  341 
Jornal  do  Brazil,  341 
Juliaca,  76 


358 


INDEX 


Juncal,  83 
Junin,  74 

La  Guayra,  59-61,  63,  64,  67, 
81,  83,  245,  248,  249,  257,  268 
La  Paz,  76,  78 

La  Plata,  52,  115,  120,  150,  153 
La  Prensa,  Buenos  Aires,  341 
Lake  Maracaibo,  245,  293 
Lake  Mirim,  219,  232 
Lake  Valencia,  246 
Lamport  and  Holt  Line,  81 
La  Nacion,  Buenos  Aires,  341 
Lane,  Doctor  Horace,  42 
Las  Casas,  3,  250,  277 
Las  Cuevas,  83 
Latorre,  158 

Leopoldina  Railway,  in  Brazil, 
38,  212 

L’Etoile  du  Sud,  37 
Liberals,  156,  166 
Libra,  72 

Liebig  Beef  Company,  51,  172 
Lima,  73,  76 
Lloyd  Brazileiro,  83 
Lopez,  106,  157,  195,  196,  306, 
332 

Lota,  83 

Mackenzie  College,  42,  239 
Mackenzie,  John  T.,  42 
Macuto,  64 

Magdalena  River,  82,  303 
Magellan  Straits,  78,  84 
Magellanes,  96 
Mahanovich  Line,  52 
Maldonado,  152 
Manaos,  80,  207,  219 
Maracaibo,  245,  249,  250,  258 
Maracaibo  Lake,  245,  293 
MaranhSo,  190 
Matos,  260,  261,  269 


Matto  Grosso,  183,  191,  195,206 
Maua,  212 
Medio,  63 

Meiggs,  Henry,  74,  84 
Mendoza,  96,  140 
Mercedes,  51 
Merida,  277 
Michelena,  65 

Milreis,  18,  21,  25,  29,  30,  32,  33, 
217 

Minas  Geraes,  38,  51,  183,  184, 
191,  207,  21 1,  219,  230,  233 
Miraflores,  65 
Miranda,  65,  252,  306 
Mirim,  Lake,  219,  232 
Misericordia  Hospital,  35 
Misiones,  58,  89,  91,  153,  191 
Mitre,  Bartoleme,  105,  106 
Mollendo,  74,  75,  77 
Monagas  Brothers,  255 
Monagas,  Tadeo,  255 
Monroe  Doctrine,  12,  322,  3*3, 
Chapter  XX 
Monroe  Palace,  37 
Montevideo,  7,  15,  36,  41,  46-51, 
55,  81,  99,  104,  148-150,  153- 
155,  157,  162,  168,  169,  171, 
172,  1 75-i  77,  179,  292,  296, 
298,  302,  315 
Mount  Misti,  76 
Muller,  Lauro,  230 

National  Library,  37 
National  Museum,  30,  35 
Nico  Perez,  51 
Novo  Friburgo,  39 
Novo  Hamburgo,  228 
Nueva  Granada,  251,  252 

Ortbe,  155,  333 

Orinoco  River,  88,  243,  349, 369, 
300,  307 


INDEX 


359 


Orinoco  Valley,  244,  294 
Oroya,  74 
Ouvidor,  33,  34 

Pacasmayo,  72 
Pacific  Mail  Steamers,  82 
Pacific  Steam  Navigation  Com- 
pany, 82,  83,  84,  85 
Paez,  General,  253-255 
Panama,  2,  7,  68,  70,  72,  73,  78, 
79,  82,  83,  250 

Panama  Canal,  II,  68,  69,  78, 
260,  290,  319,  329 
Panama  Railroad  Steamship 
Company,  82,  316 
Pan-American  Railway,  80 
Panteon,  65 
Para,  83,  186,  230 
Paraguay,  3,  58,  80,  97,  99,  106, 
153,  157,  191,  195,  196,  261, 
290,  332 

Paraguay  River,  97,  182,  294 
Paraiso,  266 
Paranagua,  46,  187 
Parana  (city),  150,  230 
Parana  River,  58,  88, 90, 92, 104, 
155,  294 

Parana  (state),  183,  228 
Paulistas,  191 
Payta,  72 
Pena,  108 
Pereira,  156 

Pernambuco,  15,  16,  17,  20,  22, 
81,  137,  181,  186,  190, 192, 194, 
206,  217,  223,  246 
Peru,  2,  3,  11,  71-75,  77,  80,  84, 
96,  97,  99,  no,  252,  278,  290, 
319,  329,  337 

Peruvian  Corporation,  72 
Peso,  63,  69,  76,  77 
Petropolis,  29,  39,  212,  225 
Pisco,  75 


Pisqua,  78 
Pizarro,  71,  73 

Plate  River,  49,  87,  98,  103, 150, 
168,  195,  307 
Plaza  2 de  Mayo,  54 
Pocitos,  50,  169,  176 
Porto  Alegre,  137,  208,  217,  219, 

229 

Posadas,  101 

Praza  da  AcclamacSo,  35 
Prince  Line,  81 
Prince  Jo3o,  192 
Prince  Maurice  of  Nassau,  190 
Princess  Isabel,  198 
Puerto  Cabello,  67,  245,  248, 
249,  258 

Puerto  Rico,  58,  259 
Pueyrredon,  101 
Puno,  76 

Punta  Arenas,  78,  84 

Quitanda,  109 
Quito,  70,  71,  253 

Real,  63 

Recife,  16-20,  23,  81,  186  (see 
Pernambuco) 

Red  “D”  Line,  81 
Ribera,  173 

Rio  Grande,  46,  187,  194,  232 
Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  149,  153, 
183,  187,  195,  202,  207,  208, 
216,  219,  224,  226,  228,  229, 

230 

Rio  de  Janeiro  (bay),  24,  190 
Rio  de  Janeiro,  7,  14,  15,  23,25- 
41,  45,  46,  54,  59,  79,  81,  83, 
84,  140,  141,  180,  181,  186, 187, 
191,  192,  201,  206,  209,  21 1, 
212,  214,  219,  225,  232,  235, 
236,  240,  241,  246,  297,  298, 
300,  302,  303,  3 1 5,  3i6,  342 


360 


INDEX 


Rio  de  Janeiro  (state),  39,  183, 
187,  206,  21 1,  230 
Rio  de  la  Plata,  2,  73,  79,  88, 
96-98,  126,  150,  151,  182 
Rio  Negro,  51,  90,  150,  151,  243 
Rivadavia,  101,  102,  104 
Rivera,  51,  154,  155 
River  Parana,  58,  88,  90, 92, 104, 
155,  294 

River  Plate,  49,  87,  98,  103,  150, 

168,  195,  307 

Roca,  General,  108,  109 
Rosario,  56,  58,  92,  120, 121, 137, 
150 

Rosas,  103,  104,  120,  155,  158, 
306 

Royal  Mail  Steam  Packet  Com- 
pany, 81,  82,  305 
Rua  da  Quitanda,  37 
Rua  do  Commercio,  31 

Salaverry,  72 
Salto,  51 

San  Cristobal,  251-282 
San  Lorenzo,  73 
San  Martin,  100,  in 
San  Roque,  Cape,  181,  183 
Santa  Ana  do  Livramento,  173 
Santa  Catarina,  183,  228 
Santa  Elena,  228 
Santa  Fe,  97,  102,  105,  131,  136 
Santiago,  79,  84,  96 
Santos,  15,  44,  45,  46,  78, 81, 186, 
187,  191,  212,  219,  232 
Santos  (president),  158,  159 
Sao  Francisco,  46,  187 
Sao  Francisco  River,  182 
Sao  Paulo,  13,  36,  39-45,  78, 
194,  209,  21 1,  212,  214,  219, 
232,  239,  240,  241,  246 
Sao  Paulo  Railway,  212 


Sao  Paulo  (state),  183,  187, 
191,  201,  202,  206,  216,  223 
Sao  Salvador,  20-23,  81,  186 
Saravia,  Aparicio,  160 
Sarmiento,  4,  85,  106,  107,  in, 
124,  273,  306,  332 
Savanilla,  81 
Sergipe,  206 
Silla,  251 
Sloman  Line,  81 
Sol,  72 
Solis,  96,  153 
Soublette,  254 
Southern  Railway,  74 
Straits  of  Magellan,  78,  84, 85 
Sucre,  70 
Sucre,  4,  74,  252 
Sugar  Loaf,  24,  25 

Ta'chira,  246,  249,  282 
Tacna,  78 
Tajes,  159 
Talcahuano,  83 
Thomas,  101 

Tierra  del  Fuego,  87,  90,  344 
Tiete  River,  44 
Tiradentes,  35,  191,  306,  332 
Titicaca  Lake,  74-76 
Tocantins  River,  182 
Tovar,  255 

Tramways  Light  and  Power 
Company,  42,  43,  240 
Trujillo,  72,  246 
Tucuman,  89,  97,  131,  137 
Tumaco,  69 
Tumbez,  71 
Tuy  River,  246 

Unitarians,  102,  104,  105 
United  Fruit  Company’s  Steam- 
ers, 81 


INDEX 


361 


Urquiza,  105 

Uruguay,  Traveling  in,  47-53, 
Statistics,  148,  Geography, 
149-152,  History,  153-160, 
Government,  161-167,  People 
and  Present  Conditions,  168- 
179 

Uruguay  River,  51,  88,  92,  97, 
149,  ISO,  1 5i 
Uruguayana,  51 
Valencia,  67,  248,  282 
Valencia  Lake,  246 
Valdivia,  84 

Valparaiso,  72,  79,  82,  83,  84,  85, 
316 


Varela,  158 

Vargas,  Doctor,  254,  273 
Vargas  Hospital,  65,  254 
Venezuela,  Traveling  in,  58, 
Statistics,  242,  Georgraphy, 
243-249,  History,  250-262, 
Government,  263-275,  People 
and  Present  Conditions,  276- 
287 

Wheelright,  79,  84,  85 

Y.  M.  C.  A.,  37,  38,  57,  296 

Zamora,  246 
Zavala,  97 


